BANGKOK - THAI customs officials said on Wednesday they had arrested a Pakistani man at Bangkok's main international airport with 54 condoms in his stomach containing half a kilo of heroin.

Kamran Pervaiz Butt, 24, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Tuesday morning on a Thai Airways flight from Islamabad, customs authorities said in a statement.

Thai authorities received a tip-off that there would be a drug smuggler on the flight and stopped Butt because of his suspicious manner as he came through the nothing-to-declare channel at customs, they said.

An initial search of his body and his bags revealed nothing but X-rays later showed that he had swallowed 54 condoms packed full of heroin, the statement said.

The total weight of the drugs was 570 grams (1.2 pounds) with a street value in Thailand of approximately 1.7 million baht (S$69,000), customs said.

Butt was charged with possession and trafficking of class A drugs, which carries a possible death sentence in Thailand.