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