Customs office foils delivery of consignment of ecstasy
Customs office foils delivery of consignment of ecstasy
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The customs and excise office at the Soekarno-Hatta International
Airport revealed on Tuesday that it had managed to foil the
delivery of 34,810 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands.
Head of the airport customs and excise office Nofrial said his
office also arrested suspected sender Marcus Aijal alias Max, 42,
an Indonesian-born Dutch national.
According to Nofrial, Max was the sender as well as recipient
of the pills sent through delivery company DHL in a cardboard box
weighing 4.5 kilograms.
Max allegedly told DHL that the box, which he sent before
taking a flight leaving for Jakarta, contained documents.
Airport customs and excise officers, however, were suspicious
about the box that arrived at the airport last Wednesday, on
flight No. LD-0372. Max also arrived on the same flight.
"On the box, the name of the sender was GE Plastic-Plasticlaan
1 Bergen op Zoom Amsterdam and the recipient was RMJ Portier
Audio, Jl. Krekot No. 3C Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta," said
Nofrial.
He said the officers opened the box and found six plastic bags
containing 29,970 ecstasy pills.
"Our officers then conducted a narcotest on the pills that
confirmed that the pills contain psychotropic substances with
amphetamine," he said.
Customs officers arrested Ronaldo, of Jl. Krekot, Central
Jakarta last Thursday. Ronaldo told the officers that the drugs
belonged to Max.
Ronaldo then helped officers to arrest Max, also on Thursday.
Max, who was born in Ambon, works as a taxi driver in Amsterdam.
Ronaldo was released immediately after Max was arrested.
Airport customs and excise officers again foiled a delivery
attempt on Friday of another 4,840 pills from the same sender in
Amsterdam to the same address in Jakarta.
Nofrial quoted Max as telling customs and excise officials
that Indonesia was a good market for drugs and that each pill
would be sold here at Rp 100,000 (US$10.5).
He expected a turnover of Rp 3.5 billion from the ecstasy pill
sales, Nofrial said.
In another development, the office also arrested Ismail
Misfir, 23, a passenger of GA-533 flight who was about to fly to
Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan last Friday morning.
Ismail was found to be in possession of 0.6 grams of crystal
methamphetamine hidden in a match box in his pocket.