Nigerian nabbed for Rp 70m heroin

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police arrested a Nigerian citizen, identified as Fan Fan Okonkwo Jade, alias Ifanyi, 28, on Monday afternoon for alleged possession of 100 grams of heroin with an approximate street value of Rp 70 million (US$8,235). The detectives apprehended him at a restaurant on Jl. Agus Salim, Central Jakarta.

"When we approached him, he stuffed two plastic bags of heroin inside his pants," the city police narcotics division chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anjan P. Putra announced on Tuesday.

The arrest was made possible after a tip-off from citizens. Detectives later worked undercover as drug dealers to follow him.

"The restaurant is one of the targeted places as many Africans staying in Jakarta often gather and meet," Anjan said.

The suspect is now being detained at the Jakarta Police Headquarters narcotics detention center.

"He claimed that the foiled transaction was his first heroin deal," Anjan said. "But, we believe he's a long time player."

"Ifanyi is a suspected member of a syndicate led by a Nigerian nicknamed 'Doctor', who was sentenced to death earlier this month by the Central Jakarta District Court," he added.

Doctor was arrested by the Jakarta Police last year in a restaurant in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Police had taken notice of the restaurant because it too was a meeting point for Africans.

Anjan said Ifanyi had insisted that he did not have his passport because it was being held as collateral by an Indonesian man from whom he had borrowed Rp 26 million.

Speaking in broken English, Ifanyi said he did not know anything about the heroin and claimed it was a set up by his friend.

The suspect first came to Indonesia in 1998 and stays for several months each time he visits Jakarta. He claimed that he was in the garment business, purchasing baby clothes from Tanah Abang textile market to be sold in his country Nigeria.