A Good Samaritan tour guide who was cleaning trash from a beach received some lucky instant karma - when he found a 27kg piece of valuable whale vomit worth up to $1.2 MILLION.

Civic-minded Isdarit Baodaeng, 43, was collecting plastic pollution and other debris that was washed ashore following heavy monsoon rains in Songkhla province, southern Thailand, earlier this month.

The minimum wage worker, who takes home around 12,000 Baht (GBP 270), then felt something slippery on his feet and thought he stepped on a dead marine creature.

However, as he looked closer at the object, he realised it could be the expensive whale secretion ambergris, which is used as a valuable ingredient in the international perfume industry by brands such as Dior and Chanel.

Isdarit, who lives with his wife, Nong, said: ‘Immediately took a crate from our house and placed the object inside. It was so big I was amazed. I knew it could be worth a fortune so I hid it at our house until I could prove that it was real.’

The worker then cut a small piece from the mass and took it to his relatives where they did the burn test. When exposed to heat, the object would dissolve like fat and solidify again when it cools.

To make sure, he finally took it to specialists at the Prince of Songkla University who last Friday January 28 confirmed that the substance was ambergris.

He said: ‘Now I have a certificate proving that what I have is real. I can retire and help my family have a better life. I just need to find someone who will buy it, but there are officials who will help me.

'I always try to keep the beach clean. There's so much pollution in the ocean that it's impossible, but I try to help, because it does worry me when I see pieces of plastic trash.'

Ambergris is produced by sperm whales when bile ducts in the gastrointestinal tract make secretions to ease the passage of large or sharp objects. The whale then vomits the mucilage which solidifies and floats on the surface of the ocean - sometimes for hundreds of years.

The solid chunk has a foul smell at first but after the mucilage dries out, it develops a sweet and long-lasting fragrance, which makes it a sought-after ingredient in the perfume industry as it gives off a 'musky, sweet, or earthy scent'.

Provinces along the south east Thai coast - where currents from the South China Sea and Java Sea merge into the Gulf of Thailand - have been the scene of dozens of finds, helped by growing awareness of what the waxy substance is.

In September last year, Thai fisherman Narong Phetcharaj found a 30kg piece of ambergris which was authenticated. He received an offer from a Chinese businessman of GBP 23,740 per kg.

In 2018, Boonyos Tala-upara, 44, found a piece weighing 10kg on the islandof Koh Samui, which was valued at GBP 318,500 (USD 500,000).

Elsewhere in the world, in April 2016, a 1.57-kilogram ambergris ball found in Lancashire, England, sold for GBP 50,000 (USD 67,182) while in November of the same year, three Omani fishermen found 80KG of ambergris and sold it for GBP 2,233,000 (USD 3,000,000).

Ambergris valuations depend on the quality of the product. But based on previous valuations, Isdarit's haul could fetch up to GBP 31,850 per kg, giving him a total sale price of up to GBP 859,950, or $1.2 MILLION USD.