Police ran up a staggering £56,000 bill as they waited more than two weeks for drug dealers to go to the toilet so they could recover their stash of heroin and crack cocaine.
Officers had to watch Joseph Aibamwen, 21, and Yves Ntuali-Ikolo, 17, round the clock as they waited for nature to take its course, a court heard.
Both Aibamwen and Ntuali-Ikolo were suspected of hiding drugs in their backsides, but had refused to give consent for an intimate search.
Suffolk Police said officers had to mount the extraordinary surveillance operation as they waited nine days for one of the men, and 16 days for the other, to finally pass the narcotics.
Nicola May, prosecuting, said that during their detention Aibamwen, of no fixed address, and Ntuali-Ikolo, of Lewisham, south-east London, refused offers of food and drink.
Exhausted Aibamwen had to be checked over by a doctor when he became weak and started slurring his words.
'The police were very keen to offer drinks and food and these were declined by the defendants,' said Miss May.
She said the astonishing one-to-one monitoring exercise had cost taxpayers £56,000.
'That was the cost of one officer to be continually retained in order for the police to wait for the inevitable passage of the drugs through the defendants' systems,' said Miss May.
Aibamwen had hidden 99 wraps of crack cocaine with an estimated street value of between £990 and £1,800 in his back passage. Ntuali-Ikolo was carrying 50 wraps, made up of 41 wraps of crack cocaine and nine of heroin.
Both men admitted possession of crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.
Aibamwen was jailed for three years and Ntuali-Ikolo got 12 months detention in a young offenders' institution.
£56k For criminals to answer the call of nature, these drug dealers have wasted taxpayers money.
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