Thai police have intercepted 30 tonnes of pork worth six million baht (172,000 USD) from Brazil.

Police and customs officers seized the contraband meat in Songkhla province on February 22 after spotting a truck unloading several containers onto another truck in the Sadao district.

Upon inspecting the cargo, they found 30,000 kilos of frozen pork without relevant import permits or customs documents.

The alleged smugglers were detained for questioning.

Yutthana Phoonphiphat, director of the Customs Region IV office, said: 'This is the largest load of smuggled pork ever seized at the Sadao checkpoint. Illegal frozen pork had mostly been hidden in other products.'

He added that investigations are ongoing to trace the other suspected meat smugglers.