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Air India said an investigation later found "polythene bags, rags and clothes that had been flushed down and stuck in the plumbing" of the plane's toilets.

"I come here to the dump in the morning, collect polythene bags, take them for washing and sell them," says Mr Prince.

When they finally came his way, carefully wrapped in polythene, Saul sensed they were "precious cargo".

"They would come in via a courier in a sealed polythene bag," he says, adding they would then be repacked and sent on for further study to hospitals, research departments or the Department of Health.

People living in towns and cities use discarded cans, old newspapers, foil, cellophane and polythene bags as substitutes.