BANGKOK - THAI customs have charged an Australian man with smuggling drugs after arresting him at a Bangkok airport with packs of heroin allegedly strapped to his body, officials said on Wednesday.

Andrew Hoods, 36, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi international airport's departure hall on Wednesday afternoon in possession of 12 packets of heroin weighing three kilograms (6.6 pounds) in total, an official said.

A customs official estimated that the drugs would have a street value of 12 million baht (S$510,823) in Thailand.

Police said that another Australian, believed to be a friend, managed to escape.

Thailand toughened its stance on illegal drugs in 2002, but remains a transit point for narcotics produced in neighbouring Myanmar, the world's second largest opium producer and a major methamphetamine hub.

Drugs trafficking carries the death penalty in Thailand. -- AFP