Drug dealers netted at West Jakarta hotel

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta police have apprehended three men believed to be members of an amphetamine derivative shabu-shabu syndicate at Hotel Astika in West Jakarta after receiving a tip- off from one of the arrested suspects, an officer said on Friday.

The head of the city police Narcotics Detective Unit, Lt. Col. Abdullah, told reporters that police success in arresting two of the syndicate members was made possible by a tip-off from one of the suspects, named Yustopo alias Minto, who was apprehended on Thursday morning at the hotel.

Along with Yustopo's arrest, police confiscated two automatic weapons -- both of .22 caliber -- identified as a metallic ballpoint gun and a Colt Special, nine bullets and two gas bullets.

"He claimed the two guns were his. One was a gift from his friend, while the German-made ballpoint gun was bought at Rp 1 million (US$133) in an illegal market. He further claimed that the guns are for self-defense," Abdullah said.

As soon as Yustopo told police during preliminary questioning that his accomplices would meet in a room in the hotel to discuss a deal, police officers rushed back and waited there until 8 p.m., when the two showed up at the hotel and went into one of the rooms on the first floor.

"The two, identified as Simon Leoputra and Hardy Wennas, were captured red-handed with 1,5 ounces of shabu-shabu and cash totaling Rp 30 million (US$4,000).

"We spent hours making sure that the two brought the evidence," Abdullah said.

Abdullah said that police would build up the case in order to arrest other drug dealers.

The three suspects were now under city police custody for further questioning.

"We're not stopping here but we'll develop the case and if possible we'll try to obtain more and more information from the arrested suspects," he said.

Meanwhile, officials at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, arrested two foreigners at the arrival gates for illegally possessing heroin respectively on Wednesday and Thursday.

The officials identified the two suspects as LLM, a Lesotho citizen who was in possession of 450 grams of heroin and VC, a citizen of Togo who was hiding another 1.600 grams in his specially designed underpants.

The airport's head of customs and excise department, Tony Sunanto, told reporters that the two arrived from Bangkok, Thailand on different Singapore Airlines flights.

"They were arrested as officials were suspicious of their strange behavior. They acted as if they were being watched so our officials took them in and questioned them at our office," Tony said.

LLM's heroin was hidden inside his shoes. He initially refused to be searched, Tony said, adding the rejection, however, strengthened the officials' suspicion.

The two were now detained at National Police Headquarters for further investigation. (emf/41)