10,000 Ecstasy pills seized

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Customs officers at the Polonia airport here seized 10,000 Ecstasy pills allegedly belonging to a Dutch national aboard Garuda Indonesia GA-987 which arrived from Amsterdam Monday.

Head of the Customs and Excise office Djoko Oembaran told Antara that his office only announced the attempted smuggling yesterday, because his office had to check with the laboratory first to make sure they were forbidden drugs.

The contraband, stamped with "JP" initials, was seized after airport customs officers detected them by X-ray. The drugs were neatly packed inside a dark-green bag on the Boeing-747 plane which arrived here at 10.30 a.m. with 157 passengers.

Ecstasy pills have been popular among youth in big cities in Indonesia in the past few years, inviting many to risk "doing business" with the drugs. (aan)