Domestic demand for heroin 'increasing'
Domestic demand for heroin 'increasing'
TANGERANG (JP): Increasing domestic demand for heroin has
encouraged foreign drug dealers to smuggle the illegal narcotic
into the country, Director General of Customs and Excise Permana
Agung said on Tuesday.
Substantial quantities of the drug have been smuggled though
the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Permana said, the customs officers at the airport would stay
alert for smugglers and monitor suspected drug dealers.
"Our officers will continue to work hard to fight the heroin
smugglers. The arrest of four drug smugglers this month is proof
of our diligence," he told reporters.
He said the large quantities of heroin coming into the country
were a result of good harvests in the countries growing the
poppies and processing the drugs.
He claimed the Customs and Excise office had anticipated the
increased smuggling attempts, explaining that the smugglers
usually arrived from India and Pakistan via Singapore.
Meanwhile, activist Stefanus Ledo Buyeng of the National
Children's Institute hailed the customs officers who have
arrested drug smugglers and prevented huge amounts of heroin
worth billions of rupiah from entering the country.
"We might give an award to the officers because they have
saved thousands of youths. We can not imagine if the heroin was
not intercepted and consumed by our teenagers," Stefanus told
reporters.
On Monday, the customs officers arrested Nigerian Hansen
Anthony Nwaolisa, 35, for trying to smuggle 800 grams of heroin
after deplaning from Pakistan Airline plying Karachi-Jakarta.
The officers also arrested South African Zwelbanzi Joseph
Manana on Sunday for attempting to smuggle 1.2 kilograms of
heroin worth Rp 1.5 billion (US$157,894).
Both Nwaolisa and Manana attempted to smuggle the drug by
swallowing capsules containing the heroin.
The officers became suspicious of the men and took them to the
airport clinic for X-rays which confirmed the capsules in their
stomachs.
A Nepalese, identified as Indra Bahadur Tamang, was arrested
at the airport last week for attempting to smuggle 900 grams of
heroin. The 21-year-old suspect was found swallowing capsules
containing the heroin.
On another occasion, customs officers arrested Nigerian Samuel
Iwuch Kwuokoje, 30, for attempting to smuggle 3.6 kilograms of
heroin hidden in a tombstone in his suitcase.
Indonesia's narcotics Law No. 22/1997 stipulates that drug
dealers or smugglers could face the death penalty or a life
sentence.
Despite the harsh sentence, it is still quite easy for users
to buy the illicit drugs at places like cafes, discotheques or at
the dealers' houses. (41/jun)