Islamabad: Pakistani officials said Thursday they have detained five Thai nationals for trying to board a plane with a pistol and ammunition.
A handgun and bullets were found in the Thais` luggage as they checked in for a Thai Airways flight at Allama Iqbal International Airport in the eastern city of Lahore on Monday, they said.
"Five nationals of Thailand, supposedly students, were detained on June 8 after a 32-bore pistol and six live bullets were found in the luggage of one of them," an official from the Airport Security Force (ASF) told AFP.
"The detainees were later handed over to the relevant investigative authorities," he added on condition of anonymity.
An official from the Federal Investigation Authority also confirmed the arrests.
Pakistan has recently beefed up security at its airports and inspectors have arrested several people involved in smuggling currency and drugs.
On Thursday Thailand`s deputy government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said authorities were investigating why the students were carrying the weapons.
So far they had not been linked to any insurgent groups including in Thailand`s conflict-plagued south, he told reporters in Bangkok.
Sek Wannamethee, spokesman for the kingdom`s foreign ministry, later told AFP that Thai embassy officials in Islamabad were "still coordinating with Pakistani authorities" to visit the students detained in Lahore.
