Thai police arrest man with suitcase full of gold plated babies

A British man was arrested today with a suitcase full of dead babies thought to have been used in a black magic rituals in Thailand.

Chow Hok Kuen, 28, a British citizen born in Hong Kong of Taiwanese parents, was arrested in Bangkok's Chinatown and was being held for possession of human remains, police said.

It is thought he was trying to smuggle the corpses into Taiwan.

Human remains: Two of the six foetuses wrapped in gold leaf which were seized by police in Bangkok, Thailand. A British man has been arrested

'The bodies are of children between the ages of two and seven months. Some were found covered in gold leaf,' Wiwat Kumchumnan, sub-division chief of the police's Children and Women Protection unit, said.

It was not clear where the bodies came from.

Police said the corpses had a number of religious threads and tattoos on them.

In Thailand there is a grisly ritual known as 'Kuman Thong', where dead babies are surgically removed from their mother's womb and undergo a ceremonial ritual.

But instead of burying them, they are roasted dry and covered with a lacquer before being painted with gold leaf.

Grim haul: The remains of six foetuses which are believed to be destined for Taiwan. They were bought for £4,000 and could have been sold for six times that

Grim: The corpses had a number of religious threads on them and they are thought to have undergone a black magic ritual

Kuen was staying at a hotel in Khao San Road, in Bangkok's backpacker area, but the bodies were found in a separate hotel.

Police had received a tip-off that infant corpses were being offered to wealthy clients through a website advertising black magic services.

The corpses were bought from a Taiwanese national for 200,000 baht (£4,000) and could have been sold for six times that amount in Taiwan, police said.

Macabre: Thai police show the human remains at a news conference after British citizen Chow Hok Kuen was arrested

Black magic rituals are still practised in Thailand, where street-side fortune tellers offer ceremonies to reverse bad luck.

Kuen faces one year in prison and a 2,000 baht fine (£40) if he is found guilty.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office confirmed they were looking into the incident.

'We can confirm the arrest of a British national in Bangkok on 18 May,' he said.

'We stand ready to provide consular assistance.'