According to the British Daily Mail, Hans Kristian Rausing was arrested after his wife, Eva, was found dead in their Chelsea home.

Her husband is the son of Hans Rausing, one of the owners of Tetra Pak, the largest food packaging company in the world.

According to the newspaper, Rausing was initially arrested after being caught with drugs.

When police discovered his wife's body, they re-arrested him in connection with her death.

The couple had a previous brush with police when Eva was caught four years ago trying to smuggle drugs into a function at the American embassy in London.

Police found further drugs at their home, but the couple escaped when a deal was struck with prosecutors.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "On Monday, a 49-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs. Following a subsequent search of an address in Cadogan Place SW1 a body was found.

"The death is being treated as unexplained."

Rausing was said to have shunned his family fortune in his early 20s, and travelled Kathmandu living rough.

He met his wife at an addiction clinic in the US. The couple have four children.

Eva is the daughter of millionaire US businessman Tom Kemeny, a former Pepsi executive who owns an island off South Carolina.