A man was charged with smuggling over 5 kilograms of cocaine between South America and Cambodia on Saturday and sent to Siem Reap Provincial Prison yesterday to await trial, according to police.

Le Van Dang , 60, was arrested on Thursday at Siem Reap International Airport after drugs were discovered in a piano keyboard he was waiting to pick up.

“He attempted to bring these drugs from Brazil to Vietnam by way of Cambodia,” said Colonel Oum Amara, local deputy police chief.

The police believe the man is part of a larger drug trafficking organisation based in Vietnam.

Dang holds a Vietnamese passport and had travelled through Ecuador, Brazil, Qatar, and Kuala Lumpur before arriving in Cambodia on Friday, the day before his arrest.

The suspect had formerly served a 13-year prison sentence in Vietnam for trafficking heroin between southeast Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City and was released in 2013, said Amara.

Le Van Dang, who could not be reached for comment, faces life in prison if found guilty.