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Belarussian Mikhail Petukhou told Crime Suppression Division police during a six-hour interrogation that the plane left Ukraine and picked up the goods in North Korea.

En route to Pyongyang, the plane refilled fuel three times - in Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand, said Petukhou.

It would stop for refueling at Don Mueang and Sri Lanka and drop its cargo in Ukraine.

Insisting that he had no knowledge about the war material aboard the aircraft, Petukhou told investigators that he and his four companions were hired to transport goods and that he would only "provide other information in court."

Police are scheduled to escort them to the Criminal Court on Monday to seek further detention for interrogation.

Petukhou and four Kazakh men were apprehended Saturday when Thai authorities seized 35-40 tonnes of military weaponry including rocket-propelled grenades, surface-to-air missiles and ammunition contained in 12 crates from the plane which landed at the airport to refuel.

The seized weapons are being stored at an air force arms depot at Takhli air base in Nakhon Sawan province, police said.