Customs officers seize Ecstasy at a post office
Customs officers seize Ecstasy at a post office
JAKARTA (JP): Customs and excise officers have found a package
containing tens of thousands of Ecstasy pills at a post office,
Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo Soebardi said
yesterday.
Soehardjo, however, declined to explain further, saying that
the finding is still under investigation.
He also declined to name the location of the post office, but
said that there were nearly as many pills in the mailed package
as were seized from two Singaporeans arrested at Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport on Sunday.
The Singaporeans brought over 70,000 Ecstasy pills from Paris
via Hong Kong.
"We'll announce the details in the near future just after our
investigation is completed," Soehardjo said during a hearing with
members of the House of Representatives' Trade and Finance
Commission.
This discovery of Ecstasy pills was the second time customs
officials thwarted a mail shipment of the popular drug. On July
10, customs and excise officers at the Central Post Office in
Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta, foiled an attempt to import 2,000
Ecstasy pills by postal service from the Netherlands.
In addition to Ecstasy pills, postal workers have also found
packages of heroin mailed from overseas.
The senders usually mail their drug shipments to other
people's addresses, and later hire couriers to fetch the
packages.
Head of the Inspection Office of Customs and Excise at the
Terminal II of Soekarno-Hatta airport, Sontang Ruli Siregar, said
he has handled at least nine packages of heroin and Ecstasy pills
delivered through express mail.
Four people were subsequently arrested, Sontang said while
accompanying Soehardjo at yesterday's hearing.
Most of the total of 239,048 Ecstasy pills seized by customs
and excise officers this year were confiscated in airports, not
in post offices.
This most recent discovery of postmarked Ecstasy comes on the
heels of a record drug bust. On Sunday, customs officers at the
international airport arrested two Singaporeans for trying to
smuggle 70,431 Ecstasy pills into Indonesia.
Khang Teck Chuan, 41, and Yeo Chee Keng, 28, were arrested in
connection with the drug shipment as they stepped off of Cathay
Pacific flight number 777 from Paris via Hong Kong.
A third alleged associate, Lee Li Yong, slipped past customs
officers, who apparently did not recognize him as another
suspect, reports said.
As of yesterday, the whereabouts of the other suspect were
still unknown.
Police across Indonesia are tracing Yong, who holds
Singaporean passport number S1497319 B, National Police Spokesman
Brig. Gen. Nurfaizi said yesterday.
"We've sent his identification to officers at all exit gates
available in this country in order to arrest the suspect,"
Nurfaizi told reporters.
The arrest of the two Singaporeans in connection with a drug
case surprised many people who believed Singaporeans to be
obedient citizens.
The drug bust was also shocking because the pills were
transported in such an ordinary way. It was only through the X-
ray detector that airport officers located the drugs.
Because of the brash method of transport, criminologists
Mulyana W. Kusumah and Adrianus Meliala say the case reflects
outsiders' belief that Indonesian officers can be easily bribed.
"It also tells us that traffickers are not afraid of the light
punishment they could face here," Mulyana, former member of
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, said.
According to Mulyana, the authorities should conduct an in-
depth investigation on the real motive of the traffickers.
"We all know that there's a big money behind this business but
is it true they run such a risky business without a mission to
destruct our young people?" asked Mulyana. (bsr/rid)