Better surveillance at airport

Better surveillance at airport

JAKARTA (JP): Custom and excise officials at Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport will increase surveillance of passengers
and baggage in an attempt to stop transport of illegal drugs out
of the country, an official said.

Permana Agung of the Directorate General of Custom and Excise
said on Wednesday there had been many incidents where illegal
drugs were successfully smuggled through airport security. This
is supported in a confession by a suspect arrested Saturday, who
said she had transported some 30,000 ecstasy pills to Bangkok
last month.

Mili Wagimin was arrested on charges of trying to smuggle some
10,000 ecstasy pills. She was found to have plastic bags
containing the drugs strapped to her body.

"We need more intelligence operations to anticipate (smuggling
drugs out of Indonesia)," Permana told a press conference on a
similar smuggling attempt.

A man identified as Cheng Ching Lung, 30, with a People's
Republic of China passport, was arrested Monday for possession of
4,721 ecstasy pills. They were also in plastic bags, strapped to
his legs. The arrest was made when he was about to board a flight
to Taipei.

At the press conference Ucok Marisi, the airport customs
officer in charge of smuggling interdiction, said most arrests in
narcotic cases in the last two years were based on "profile
analysis" of passengers behaving suspiciously, apart from baggage
and body checks.

Also confiscated at the airport on Wednesday were some 9,500
porn VCDs. (07/41)