Coked up: Man arrested with 72 cocaine bags in belly

Brazilian police have released X-ray images of an Irishman they allege swallowed dozens of cocaine capsules in an attempt to smuggle the drug out of Sao Paolo.

The 20-year-old was arrested Monday at Sao Paolo's Congonhas airport as he tried to board a flight to Lisbon, the Irish Independent reported Friday. He was en route to Brussels, the paper said.

The medical images show 72 bags packed with the drug in his gastrointestinal tract.

Police were alerted after authorities noticed his nervous behavior, according to media reports. They said the drugs would have been worth around 150,000 euros ($206,780).

The man, who has only been identified as P.B.B., was reportedly taken to a hospital where the capsules, weighing a total of about two pounds, were removed from his body. It was unclear how this was achieved.

He has been charged with international drug trafficking and could be jailed for up to 15 years, the Independent said.

© 2011 msnbc.com

Handout medical image released by the Brazilian Federal Police showing bags with cocaine inside the gastrointestinal tract of a 20-year-old Irish national arrested by police at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on September 12. The man, identified only as P.B.B., was stopped whilst trying to board a flight outbound for Brussels with 72 bags containing almost a kilogram of the drug inside his intestines.