PHUKET: A man who claims to be a Nepalese monk has been arrested at Phuket International Airport carrying eight kilos of cannabis resin.

Phuket Customs officials say that the man, named as Hise Chhiring Tamang, 42, was a frequent visit to Thailand who was arriving via Phuket for the first time.

A media presentation at Phuket International Airport was told this afternoon that the man had brought in five loads of drugs via Bangkok, and that he was to receive 80,000 baht for delivering the Phuket haul, valued at 800,000 baht.

Phuketwan understands that the man took a flight from India and changed planes in Malaysia, transiting to Phuket and arriving about 4.30pm yesterday.

He was to hand the drugs, hidden in the lining of his luggage, to a Thai accomplice at the airport.

It is believed it was the man's eighth visit to Thailand, but his first via Phuket. His last entry to Thailand was on March 13.

Officials at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok arrested a man posing as a Nepalese monk last week.

Cannabis resin is the most powerful form of hashish, which comes from marijuana leaves. A record haul of 400 kilos of marijuana was made by Phuket police earlier this week.

Earlier this year Phuket's Customs officials won international praise for capturing a haul of four kilos of ''black'' cocaine, an unusual and difficult to detect form of the drug.

Some drug couriers are believed to have tried Phuket as an alternative with the use of more sophisticated scanners in Suvarnabhumi.

But Phuket's Customs officials, relying more on intense scrutiny of body language, have also made a series of successful arrests.