A British teenager is due in court in Thailand charged with drug trafficking after police allegedly found 3,400 Ecstasy tablets in his luggage.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed that Michael Alan Connell, 19, of Greater Manchester, was detained at Bangkok's international airport.

"We understand he will appear in court to be formally charged with the offence," she said. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.

It is alleged the drugs were found in his travel bag, and Thai customs officers said the arrest followed a tip-off.

A customs official said: "The suspect is not co-operating and not accepting the charge against him."

He said the pills, estimated to have a street value of 3.4 million baht (£510,000), were in two jars hidden in Connell's luggage.

7.02AM, Wed Nov 12 2003

A TEENAGER arrested in Thailand with a large haul of Ecstasy said today he would plead guilty to the charge to save his life.

Michael Connell, 19, from Bury, was arrested at Bangkok airport on Monday.

"I'm innocent but I have been told if I do not explain the whole story I will be found guilty and get the death sentence. So I am pleading guilty to save my life," he said after being remanded in custody to Khlomg Prem jail, known as the notorious Bangkok Hilton.

He said that before his trip he bought two tubs of body cream at a Tesco store in Bury. "Somehow when the tubs were opened by Customs the pills were inside. I do not know how they got there. The tubs did not look like the same ones I packed.

"Tell my mum and dad that I love them and not to worry about me, I'm more worried about them than they should be about me."

Michael, who had been receiving unemployment benefit, added: "This was my second trip to Thailand. I came here for the ladies. I came here in April for a week."

Shock

The former Darby High School pupil could face death by lethal injection if convicted of drug smuggling. His taxi driver father Derek, of Almond Avenue, Bury, is separated from Michael's mother Maureen and did not know his son was in Thailand.

"The last time I saw him was a week ago, he came round and wanted to borrow £5,'' he said.

"About two weeks ago he came to me and said he needed £350 because he was being thrown out of his flat.

"I said `I'll give you £200 but you'll have to get the rest off your mother'. It looks like he's used the money to go to Thailand instead.

"I will support him as much as I can but if he's done something to do with drugs I can't support him because it can kill people."

Maureen, of Massey Street, Bury, said: "It's a shock, I don't know what to think, all I can say is that he is a love."

Michael's aunt Jean Connell, 55, said: "He's a lovely lad. We will do all we can to help him but it is very frightening because it's the worst place possible. I don't believe he's done it."

A British teenager accused of trying to smuggle 3,400 ecstasy tablets into Thailand, has protested his innocence, police said.

"The suspect denied all police charges" during interrogation, Police Captain Wichai Wantong said. "He said he bought two jars of body cream from a department store in Manchester and he did not know what was hidden inside them."

Michael Alan Connell, who would face the death penalty if convicted of drug-smuggling, appeared in court and was remanded in custody for 12 days.

The police said the 19-year-old would appear again on November 21, and could be remanded five more times, each for 12 days, before he is formally charged.

The Customs Department said in a statement the ecstasy pills, estimated to have a Thai street value of 3.4 million baht (£50,000), were wrapped in plastic and put in two small jars which were hidden in his luggage.

The drugs were allegedly found in his travel bag following an X-ray scan at Don Muong International Airport in Bangkok.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said British consular staff had visited Connell, who is from Bury in Greater Manchester.