An Italian man faces prison after he was arrested for marijuana possession on the resort island of Bali, an official said Saturday.

Daniele Pieretto, 33, was arrested on Friday afternoon after arriving at the international airport on a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur.

"We arrested Daniele Pieretto for possession of 1.4 kilograms of marijuana," Ngurah Rai airport customs and excise head I Made Wijaya said.

"We detected the drugs as his luggage went through the scanner."

Under Indonesia's strict narcotics laws, carrying more than one kilogram of marijuana is technically punishable by death but similar cases have been punished with lengthy jail sentences.

Pieretto told police the drugs had come from India, Wijaya said.

"We believe he was going to give the drugs to other Italians here and suspect he is part of an international network."

The drugs have a street value of around $850, Wijaya said.