A ‘disabled’ man started walking – and was arrested – at a Milan airport after a sniffer dog tipped police off to 13kg of cocaine hidden inside his wheelchair’s leather upholstery.

The dog was at Malpensa Airport to check arriving passengers and their luggage following a flight from the Dominican Republic – after drug couriers previously used the route – police said in a statement.

After being alerted by the dog, officers found nothing inside the passenger’s luggage but discovered the drugs after cutting open the motorised wheelchair.

The passenger, a Spaniard who asked airport workers to help guide the wheelchair, then got up and walked unaided before being taken into custody, police said.

Officers said the 11 packets of cocaine, weighing 13.35kg, could have made 27,000 individual doses and had a street value of around 1.4 million euros (£1.2 million).