A man has been arrested in New Delhi after customs officials apparently stopped him trying to board a flight with a Loris monkey in his underwear.

It is believed the suspected smuggler had just arrived from Bangkok and was attempting to get on a plane to Dubai.

Two other passengers were also detained.

The seven-inch (17cm) long monkey is native to India and south-east Asia and was found during a routine security check, according to the Press Trust of India.

It also reported that a second Loris was found in a rubbish bin at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

"They had abandoned him as they were unable to carry him," a senior security official told the news agency.

The passengers, named as Hamad Al-Dhaheri, Mohammed Al-Shamsi and Rashid Al-Shamsi, were handed over to the Wildlife and Customs Department for further questioning and were later arrested by customs police.

It is not the first time customs officials in India have had to deal with a case like this.

A man was recently stopped at Mumbai's main airport with 10 turtles in his underwear.

Six Persian cats, three poisonous tarantula spiders and 11 birds' eggs were also seized from the man and his two accomplices after they landed, also on a flight from Bangkok.

According to the Hindustan Times, the men were fined and sent straight back to Thailand with the protected species and eggs they were trying to smuggle.