BANGKOK, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- A 10.4-kilogram heroin was seized on Friday from a pickup truck on its way from northern to southern Thailand, police said on Saturday.

The drug trafficking suspect, identified as Ibrahem Awae, 40, a native of Narathiwat province in the southernmost region, allegedly carried the heroin wrapped in brown plastic sheets and hidden under the back seat of his pickup truck, the police said.

The drug trafficking truck was stopped at a checkpoint on Phetchakasem Road in Pathio district of Chumphon province, about 435 kilometers south of Bangkok.

The suspect told the police that he was hired to pick up the heroin from Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province in the nothern region and to deliver it at a destination in Su-ngai Kolok district of Narathiwat in the southern region.

The 10.4-kilogram heroin, brand-named Double Lions and Globe, was estimated to cost up to 15 million baht (about 448,000 U.S. dollars) at the blackmarket.