A 23-year-old British man has been accused of attempting to smuggle a suitcase filled with crystal meth out of Thailand. George Wilson is said to have collected 9.15kg of methamphetamine at a hotel in Bangkok’s red-light district on Monday night.

According to police, he claimed he was handed the drugs in a pink suitcase by a British trafficker known as ‘Snoopy’, and that he was paid 20,000 THB (£460) to take part in the operation.

Wilson, who attended a private school costing roughly £70,000 per year, was allegedly meant to take the case through Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok and meet up with other members of the network once he landed. However, vice police in the Thai capital had already been following leads for several days and were reportedly tipped off about the gang’s activities. They took Wilson into custody at the Le Fenix hotel after security cameras captured deliveries being made there, and they secured a warrant to search the premises.

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The arrest was filmed on police bodycams. When asked by an officer what the suitcase contained, Wilson replied: ‘I don’t know’. Inside the case, officers discovered 10 green foil packets of Chinese tea, which turned out to be packed with meth. Wilson then said: ‘I don’t know what it is’. A field test was immediately carried out on video, confirming the foil bags contained illegal substances. Wilson, who is from High Wycombe, has remained in custody since. He reportedly attended court on Wednesday, October 1.

Colonel Siranawitcha Intorn, Superintendent of the Crime Suppression Division, said: ‘George Wilson has been charged with distributing Category 1 narcotics, specifically methamphetamine or ice, with intent to sell in violation of the law, which constitutes a commercial act that contributes to the spread of the drug among the public.

‘We believe he was part of a cross-border drug smuggling network, which is very serious. The amount of drugs seized was also very large. The highest levels of the Royal Thai Police have coordinated to make the arrest.’

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Category 1 drugs in Thailand cover heroin, methamphetamine and other synthetic narcotics. Bringing them in or out of the country can result in the death penalty, though that punishment is rarely imposed, with life sentences more common. Lieutenant Colonel Pongtanin Bamrungsuksawat, Deputy Chief of the Detective Division, added:

"I spoke English with the suspect. He confirmed that the items were his.

"The charges were explained to him along with his rights and he was handcuffed and taken into custody for legal processing."

Thailand is now a key location for narcotics trafficking due to its proximity to Laos and Myanmar, regions that once produced opium but in recent decades have turned to meth. Wilson is the latest British citizen to risk the death penalty or lengthy imprisonment abroad for alleged drug offences.

Earlier this year, 19-year-old Bella Culley was arrested in Georgia after being caught with £200,000 worth of drugs on a flight from Thailand in May. The pregnant teenager has claimed in a Tbilisi court that she was tortured into transporting the packages. Meanwhile, 21-year-old mother Cameron Bradford was also detained at Munich Airport, accused of smuggling cannabis from Thailand in her luggage.