Kleiman said the bag, which Segev ? a right-wing politician ? left in the locker two weeks ago before flying to Israel, contained 25,000 pills and weighed five kilograms (11 pounds).

Segev was quoted in news reports as saying a friend had asked him to take a gift of M&M chocolates back to Israel. But fearing it contained drugs he left it at an airport locker and contacted Israeli and Dutch authorities. His lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment.

Kleinman said police had been investigating Segev for some time and decided to arrest him after an accomplice tried to flee the country.

?On two different occasions he (Segev) arrived at the airport in Holland. On both occasions there was suspicion he had in possession illegal chemical substances,? Kleiman said.

?He was asked to open his bag, he showed a diplomatic passport with an invalid date. He refused to open the bag. In both cases he left the airport. In one case, he took the bag and left it in a locker at the airport and flew to Israel.?

Kleiman said that after Segev?s departure to Israel two weeks ago, Dutch police opened the locker and found 25,000 Ecstasy tablets in the package left there.

Israeli police keep an officer permanently in the Netherlands due to attempts by Israeli drug rings to smuggle Ecstasy and other narcotics from Western Europe, Kleiman said.

Segev, a 48-year-old doctor, was remanded for a week at a Tel Aviv Magistrates Court. A member of the now-defunct Tzomet party, he served as Energy and Infrastructure minister in the government of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin from 1992 to 1995.