AKIPRESS.COM - A Malaysian has been arrested for trying to smuggle more than half a ton of cannabis into his country across Thailand's southern border, according to The Straits Times.

Mohd Nizam Ishak, 34, was stopped on Monday while driving a truck with fake Malaysian license plates at a border checkpoint in Sadao in Thailand's southern province of Songkhla.

Investigators said they found 520 kg of marijuana, worth around US$440,000, hidden under furniture in the truck.

"The suspect confessed to the trafficking charge and said he was hired... to transport marijuana from Hat Yai (in Songkhla) to... Kuala Lumpur," police Lieutenant-General Rawat Klinkasorn said.

The suspect also allegedly confessed to taking drugs along the same route on previous occasions.

Thailand is a producer and major transit hub for drugs. Much of the regional drug manufacturing takes place in the Golden Triangle, a remote border area where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet.