SURAT THANI: An Italian has been arrested and methamphetamine powder seized from his house on Koh Phangan after 500 ecstasy pills were found hidden in packets of instant noodles sent to him from the Netherlands.

Police said on Wednesday that customs officials inspected a parcel at the Bangkok Mail Centre on Oct 21. 

It was sent from the Netherlands to a person in Koh Phangan district of Surat Thani. An inspection found 500 pink ecstasy pills, about 205 grammes, hidden inside packets of instant noodles.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for the home of the addressee, Naomi Cometto, on Koh Phangan. 

Police went and found an Italian man, 39, staying at the house with his Thai wife and their five-year-old daughter.

A search of the house found 15.77 grammes of methamphetamine powder in a can of almonds hidden in the house, and some used syringes.

During interrogation, the Italian suspect said he and his family had lived on Koh Phangan for two years. He did not work, and liked to go to the parties held on the island. He received financial support from relatives in Italy, who gave him 25,000 baht a month.

His Thai wife earned a living by selling goods online and at a weekend market.

He allegedly admitted buying the methamphetamine powder from a French man identified only as Francis at a party on Koh Phangan, and that he took some of the drug a week ago by heating it in a microwave and then inhaling it.

He was handed over to Koh Phangan police on a charge of having illicit drugs in his possession with intent to sell.