British man arrested on cocaine charges in Australia

Police have arrested a British man for allegedly smuggling cocaine into Australia by swallowing more than 100 pellets of the drug, officials said Friday.

Customs officers stopped the 35-year-old man, whose identity and home town were not immediately released, after he arrived at Sydney's international airport on a flight from Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday.

The officers "became suspicious the man could be carrying drugs in his stomach" and took him to a hospital for a medical examination, the Australian Customs Service said in a statement.

The medical examiners allegedly recovered 108 pellets from the man's stomach, each carrying almost 3 grams (0.11 ounces) of cocaine powder.

Federal police charged the man with importing a marketable quantity of a controlled drug, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a 550,000 Australian dollar fine (US$475,000; euro350,000).

The man was expected to appear in Sydney's Central Local Court later Friday.