Authorities have released X-ray images of an Irish national they allege swallowed dozens of cocaine capsules in an attempt to smuggle the drug out of Brazil.
The 20-year-old man, identified only as P.B.B., was arrested on Monday at Sao Paolo’s Congonhas airport as he tried to board a flight to Lisbon en route to Brussels, the Irish Independent reports.
Medical-imaging photographs released by Brazilian authorities show 72 bags of cocaine in the man’s gastrointestinal tract, or nearly a kilogram of the narcotic. Police were alerted after authorities noticed his nervous behavior, the paper reports.
The drugs were estimated to have been worth roughly $200,000.
The suspect has been charged with international drug trafficking and faces up to 15 years in prison, the paper reports.
