NIBONG TEBAL, Feb 21 — A body of a man believed to be a foreign national was found in a blue drum in an oil palm plantation in Tiga Kongsi, Simpang Ampat today.

Seberang Perai Selatan district police chief Supt Lee Chong Chern said police received a report on the discovery of the body at 10.40 am after the owner of the plantation lodged a police report on the gruesome find in a 150-litre drum.

"According to the owner of the plantation, he was alerted by his employee who noticed a stench emanating from a drum with a corpse inside.

"Police inspection found no identification on the body of the man in his 40s who was believed to be a foreign national and had died about a month ago as the body had shrunk, " he said when contacted by Bernama today.

He said initial examination on the external part of the body clad in shorts and a t-shirt found that there were no signs of injuries and the police also did not find any criminal elements in their search around the area.

"So far we have not received any police reports of missing persons and I urge the public who have a missing family member, employee or friend to come forward to identify the body,” he said.

He said the body was sent to Seberang Jaya Hospital for post-mortem and police classified it as sudden death but would change it to murder if the post-mortem results found elements of crime in the death of the victim. — Bernama