Malaysian airport customs arrested an African man for attempting to smuggle illegal drugs hidden in 300 sticks of lip gloss, a newspaper report said today.

The suspect arrived at KL International Airport last Thursday from Doha, Qatar with several boxes of women’s items including lip gloss, airport customs director M Govindan said.

“The scan on his luggage and sling bag did not show anything but we decided to conduct a check anyway,” he was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

Officers discovered 1.5kg of methamphetamine wrapped in carbon paper and inserted inside the lip gloss tubes, estimated to be worth about RM375,000.

The suspect would be charged with trafficking, which carries the mandatory death sentence.

- dpa