A Pakistani man was arrested at Bangkok's main international airport after he was found to be carrying almost a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin in his stomach, Thai customs officials said on Friday. Shabbir Ahmad, 27, was stopped at Suvarnabhumi Airport late on Thursday night after he arrived from Lahore, Pakistan, on a Thai Airways flight.

Authorities said they had been tipped off that a Pakistani national would be smuggling drugs and Ahmad was stopped as he tried to clear customs. X-rays showed he had swallowed 90 packs of heroin weighing a total of 830 grams (one pound) with a street value in Bangkok worth 2.5 million baht (75,757 dollars), officials said. Ahmad was charged with trafficking and smuggling class A drugs, which is punishable by death in Thailand. Ahmad is the third Pakistani national to have been arrested this month attempting to smuggle heroin through Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010