Customs hands over Ecstasy suspects to National Police<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport's
\nCustoms and Excise Office handed over yesterday two Singaporeans
\narrested for smuggling 16,437 Ecstasy pills and 440 grams of
\nEcstasy powder on Sunday to the National Police.<\/p>\n
The office's chief, Nisfu Chasbullah, said his officers
\narrested the suspects, Loh Kok Ban, 37, and Lim Tian Kwang, 24,
\nafter finding drugs in two of the suspects' bags.<\/p>\n
The suspects disembarked from Cathay Pacific flight CX-777
\nfrom Paris via Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\"The airport's X-ray detector located the pills and the powder
\nin the bags. When the bags were opened, the pills and the powder
\nwere found in chocolate plastic wrappers. The officers then
\narrested the two,\" Nisfu said.<\/p>\n
In a preliminary interrogation the suspects, who were salesmen
\nas their passports stated, said they were couriers.<\/p>\n
The suspects said they were paid S$8,000 (US$5,565) by someone
\nin Singapore to get the pills and the powder in Amsterdam and
\ndeliver it to another person in Jakarta. \"But the suspects did
\nnot want to identify the people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Chief for Drug Affairs of the National Police, Maj. Djati
\nU. Saragih, said police would send the case to the Public
\nProsecutors' Office as soon as the dossiers were completed.<\/p>\n
\"We found enough evidence to charge the suspects,\" Maj. Djati
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said the suspects would be charged with violating Articles
\n80 and 81 of the Health Law by distributing Ecstasy.<\/p>\n
\"Although the suspects claimed to be only couriers in the
\nbusiness, the facts showed they brought the pills here,\" Djati
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Airport customs and excise officials have seized 239,048 pills
\nand arrested dozens of suspects since March 1996.<\/p>\n
Most of the suspects' embarkation places were in Europe,
\nparticularly Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 1, two Singaporeans were arrested at Soekarno-Hatta
\nInternational Airport for trafficking a record 70,431 Ecstasy
\npills into Indonesia. They were arrested soon after disembarking
\na Cathay Pacific flight from Paris to Jakarta via Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
The suspects, identified as Khang Thek Chuan, and Yeo Chee
\nKheng, bought the pills worth an estimated Rp 4.2 billion (US$1.8
\nmillion) in Brussels.<\/p>\n
The second largest seizure was 60,000 Ecstasy pills in April.
\nThe owner carried the pills in a bag. The bag was left at the
\nairport so another syndicate member, an airport worker, could
\ncollect it later at the Lost & Found office. Four people were
\narrested in connection with the case. (jun)<\/p>",
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