(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-15 15:16

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - An American in Costa Rica was caught smuggling nearly a pound of cocaine (0.4 kg) in his stomach after he went into convulsions on a plane bound for Miami, police said on Friday.

The 22-year-old man swallowed dozens of capsules stuffed with the drug before boarding a plane on Thursday in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose.

Police said he started to vomit and convulse before the plane took off and was rushed to a hospital where he was still recovering on Friday.

"They had to open him up too remove the capsules," said police spokeswoman Marielos Barbosa.

The man, identified only by his last name, Keller, was the second American arrested this month at the airport for smuggling cocaine in his stomach.

The Central American country works with US authorities to try to stop drug shipments reaching the United States from producer countries in South America.

The Costa Rican Coast Guard has captured dozens of tons of cocaine being moved up the country's coast over the last few years.