3 suspected dealers wanted following Nigerian's arrest

3 suspected dealers wanted following Nigerian's arrest

Damar Harsanto and Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Tangerang

Police are looking for an Algerian and two Indonesians allegedly
involved in drug smuggling. This follows the arrest of Nigerian
Stephen Rasheed Akinyemi on Tuesday at the Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport, who was found to have 400 grams of heroin
concealed in his underwear.

"We are chasing three suspects -- an Algerian and an
Indonesian who both stay in Jakarta, and another Indonesian who
is believed to be in Surabaya (East Java)," said city police
chief of detectives for narcotics division Adj. Sr. Comr. Anjan
Pramuka Putra.

He said the three had suspected links with drug trafficking in
Indonesia.

Anjan refrained from identifying the suspects further but said
that they had come under suspicion due to communications with
Akinyemi.

Akinyemi, 34, a resident of Cempaka Hijau, Blok S, South
Jakarta, was arrested at the airport, carrying 400 grams of
heroin wrapped in several packages.

The packages were found within a sock hidden in Akinyemi's
underwear. Airport security guards became suspicious when they
observed something strange with the suspect's trousers.

Akinyemi was due to fly to Surabaya at 5:40 p.m. on Tuesday
and had been transporting the heroin for a buyer in the country's
second largest city.

He told police investigators that he had been ordered by an
unidentified Algerian to pick up the heroin from an Indonesian in
Jakarta and to deliver it to an Indonesian buyer in Surabaya.

"If he had delivered the packages, with a street value of Rp
500 million (about US$60,900), he would have received Rp 5
million in commission," Anjan said.

He revealed that although the police were aware of other
networks operating in Indonesia, Akinyemi's network hadn't been
detected by the police before the airport arrest.

Early last month police uncovered an international drug
trafficking network controlled by Nigerian inmate Nwaolisa Hansen
Anthony, who is currently serving a life sentence at the Cipinang
prison in East Jakarta.

Anthony contacted the men working for him by using his mobile
phone to call as far away as Pakistan. Every week Anthony's men
were reportedly able to smuggle between four and five kilograms
of heroin into Indonesia.

The trafficking was often undertaken by three or four couriers
who swallowed the packages of heroin to thwart airport security
checks. The heroin was transported into Jakarta via Polonia
Airport in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, and Ngurah Rai
International Airport in Bali.

Police arrested six members of Antony's network in Jakarta,
who were identified as Nengsih, Fanny Cynthia alias Maya,
Triyatmi alias Tri, George Obinya alias Andy, Chukwuka Sunday
Thomas alias Mature alias Macho.

Anjan also claimed that in the last week his office had
managed to uncover two groups of drug traffickers led by Budiono
alias Honggi and Harri Aritonang.

"In that case we captured a total of 13 suspects and
confiscated 38.1 grams of heroin, 670 grams of shabu-shabu (low-
grade heroin) and 249 ecstasy pills." he added.