Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | An American tourist was arrested after more than 40 of the pellets of cocaine hidden in her anal cavity were ejected by a severe case of diarrhea while she was standing in front of airport security officers.

27-year old Tania Smith, from Fort Lauderdale in Florida, was getting ready to board a plane back to the United States after spending two weeks in Brazil when the incident occurred.

The young woman looked visibly ill and feverish while waiting in line before boarding, and several witnesses said kept groaning and swearing loudly.

At the moment she was called up to present her ticket, she suffered a severe incident of diarrhea which ejected dozens of drugs pellets from her rectum, directly on the airport floor.

Ms. Smith was immediately arrested and a cavity search revealed more drug packages, bringing the total to 104 pellets.

An examination of the pellets indicated she had over 1kg in weight of cocaine in her body, for a street value of more than $100,000.

She confessed that he had been offered a 2-week trip in Brazil by a man in Florida in exchange for bringing the cocaine back from Rio de Janeiro to Miami.

According to the Lieutenant Igor Rosario di Pablo of the Brazilian federal police, she suffered from Traveler’s diarrhea during her entire trip and was still sick when she inserted the drugs in her anal cavity.

“She told us that she had been suffering from diarrhea her entire trip. She said she prayed she could hold it in during the entire flight, but obviously her prayers weren’t enough.”

Tania Smith was charged with drug transportation and trafficking. She faces from 30 years to life in jail if convicted.

Dozens of individuals like her are arrested every year while smuggling drugs across borders for drug cartels.

These “drug mules” often use body cavities to hide the drugs, and some die every year after the packages break and release the drugs in their bodies.

Considering the risks associated with this process, Ms. Smith’s severe diarrhea may have gotten her arrested, but it might also have saved her life.