Customs needs more sniffer dogs

Customs needs more sniffer dogs

MEDAN, North Sumatra: The Medan Customs Office here said on
Tuesday that it planned to increase the number of its sniffer
dogs to four following a foiled herion smuggling attempt by a
South Africa national at Polonia Airport.

The additional dogs were needed to tighten security at the
international airport, said Ayub Yusuf, the coordinator of the
Patrols and Operations Section of the Medan Customs Office.

Ayub said that currently the local customs service had one
sniffer dog. "We have proposed to the Jakarta Customs Office that
they send four more sniffer dogs to Medan," said Ayub.

The South Africa national, Okonkwo Nongso Kingsley, was
arrested on Saturday as he tried to smuggle 65 capsules
containing heroin. The 65 capsules, each containing 1.1 grams of
heroin, were discovered in his stomach after an X-ray
examination.

Last year, Josep Karanja from Kenya was also arrested for
attempting to smuggle heroin in his stomach into the country. He
was later sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The two cases suggest that Polonia airport is being used as an
international transit airport for drug dealers so that additional
measures are needed to handle the problem. --JP