Customs Seize Malaysian Flight Attendant Using Etomidate Vape

Customs at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport has revealed that this is not the first instance of drug smuggling involving flight crews. Previously, a case was identified involving a flight attendant suspected of drug use.

Hengky Tomuan Parlindungan Aritonang, Head of the Soekarno-Hatta Type C Main Customs Office, stated that prior to the recent case involving a Malaysian pilot suspected of acting as a drug courier, a flight attendant was found with an etomidate vape intended for personal use, rather than large-scale distribution.

“We have had such an incident before, but the quantity was not large; it was for personal use by a flight attendant,” Hengky told reporters at the Soekarno-Hatta Customs Office on Friday (31/07/2026).

He noted that the airline involved was the same as the recent case involving the pilot from Malaysia. The case involving the flight attendant is distinct from the matter currently being handled by the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim Polri).

On this day, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) of the Ministry of Finance, alongside Bareskrim Polri, successfully intercepted drugs allegedly brought by a Malaysian pilot at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. The seized narcotics included 70,114 ecstasy pills weighing a net 25.19 kg, packed in 14 plastic bags, as well as 4 grams of methamphetamine.

Following the discovery, Bareskrim Polri officially named a suspect with the initials MSO, or Mohd Saufi, who is suspected of smuggling the 26 kg of ecstasy and 4 grams of methamphetamine via the Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta route. Investigators are charging Mohd Saufi under several articles of the narcotics law. Based on investigations, the suspect admitted to acting as a narcotics courier to Indonesia on three previous occasions and now faces the maximum penalty of the death penalty.