Acting on a tip-off from Pakistani Interpol police, police took Tahir Butt into custody after he arrived on Thai Airways International Flight TG350 at 6.15am.

Police were informed that Butt had hidden drugs and boarded the flight to Bangkok en route to Sri Lanka to deliver an illicit cargo to members of an international drug ring. However, police initially did not find any drugs when they searched Butt’s body and his bag, so he was sent to the Police Hospital for a thorough body check, officials said.

Acting Crime Suppression Division chief Pol Maj-General Suthin Suppuang told a press conference that police found the cocaine hidden in socks after Butt changed his clothes in preparation for an X-ray of his stomach.

“Inside the changing room, we found cocaine hidden in three plastic bags and two plastic capsules with a weight of almost 2kg. It was hidden in socks that were hidden in a used-clothes bin,” Suthin said.

Suthin said an X-ray also showed that Butt had swallowed something which could not yet be identified.

He quoted Butt as admitting that he was hired for US$4,000 (Bt143,,500) to deliver the drug to a gang in Sri Lanka but he had to travel through Bangkok first.

Butt said he hidden the 2kg of drugs in his anus.

He was charged with smuggling cocaine into the Kingdom. More charges will be filed if the object inside the suspect’s stomach turns out to be drugs, police said.