A Bucks tourist could face the death penalty after being arrested in Thailand for suspected drug smuggling.

George Wilson, 23, from Marlow is accused of attempting to smuggle nine kilograms of methamphetamine into the South East Asian country.

The former boarding school student is suspected to have received the drugs from another Briton at a hotel in the red-light area of Bangkok on Monday (September 29).

But police are said to have been tipped off about a drugs gang in the area and burst into the hotel room at Le Fenix on Sukhumvit Soi 11.

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On Wednesday the Daily Mail reported that Wilson attended the £70,000-a-year public school, Hurst Lodge School in Surrey.

The school's former pupils include the Duchess of York, TV presenter Emma Forbes and actresses Juliet Stevenson and Belinda Stewart-Wilson.

A family friend told the Mail: "It's astonishing that someone from such a well-heeled background could find himself caught up in this."

The 23-year-old's family wealth is thought to have come from a successful relative in the music industry who helped raise him.

They have links to Iron Maiden, Elton John, James Blunt, Kelly Osbourne and Kenny Rogers.

Wilson, who had been in Thailand for two weeks, was paraded by police alongside parcels of the drug, also known as crystal meth, on Tuesday.

In a video of his arrest, he could be heard telling police 'I don't know' when asked what was in the bag that had been found.

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The case is then opened, in which officers found 10 green foil bags of Chinese tea concealing drugs.

Lieutenant Colonel Noppha Thongbo, from the Lumpini district station, said: "The suspect's full name is George Henry Allaway Wilson, born on 29 July, 2002, from High Wycombe.

"He was arrested on September 29 at 6pm. He is currently in police custody and will be taken to the Bangkok South Criminal Court tomorrow for detention in prison."

Colonel Siranawitcha Intorn, Superintendent of the Crime Suppression Division, Metropolitan Police Bureau Division 5, said: "George Wilson has been charged with distributing Category 1 narcotics, specifically methamphetamine or ice, with intent to sell in violation of the law, which constitutes a commercial act that contributes to the spread of the drug among the public.

"We believe he was part of a cross-border drug smuggling network, which is very serious. The amount of drugs seized was also very large.

"The highest levels of the Royal Thai Police have coordinated to make the arrest."