Drug-filled capsule killed Zimbabwean

JAKARTA (JP): It is believed that the death of a Zimbabwean national in a hotel in Central Jakarta last week was caused by a heroin-filled capsule that burst inside his digestive system, taking the last four month's tally of Africans dead in similar accidents to three.

Senior forensic expert Abdul Mun'im Idries of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital revealed on Monday that the broken capsule was found with 18 other heroin-filled capsules inside the stomach of Mohd. Mpu Malelo.

The total weight of the capsules was 540 grams, 360 grams of which was first-grade heroin. The heroin had an estimated local street value of between Rp 100,000 (US$15) and Rp 300,000 per gram.

One of the 18 capsules split open and caused fatal damage, the expert said.

The 25-year-old Zimbabwean was found dead on Wednesday in a room at Hotel Sriwijaya by hotel employees, who then contacted local police.

The deceased was rushed to the hospital's morgue, but the police did not immediately order a postmortem examination on the body as they were waiting to receive permission to go ahead with the procedure from relatives, friends or representatives from the Zimbabwean Embassy.

"We were notified (by local police) that an African was found dead this morning so we immediately ordered an autopsy by Pak Mun'im as we had a strong suspicion that the death was caused by drugs," city police detective chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said.

The heroin-filled capsules were later confiscated by police for further investigation.

Alex said he suspected the victim had links with local drug traffickers and that police detectives would concentrate on the local drug network to divulge which international drug syndicate was operating in the country.

"If this was case the first this year we'd suspect the pioneering of drug trafficking. But this is not so, so it must be a strong syndicate capable of paying people for a fatal mission like that," he said, adding that the country is no longer a transit place for drug trafficker but is now a potential market.

In May, a 37-year-old Swazi, identified as Chinedu Donsin Ochia, was found dead in Andalus Hotel in Central Jakarta. It is believed his death was also caused by a heroin-filled capsule bursting in his digestive system.

Forensic experts found 53 heroin-filled capsules inside Chinedu's stomach.

A few days later, a Liberian was found in a comatose state in his room in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta. He died two days after being hospitalized. Heroin-filled capsules weighing 875 grams, estimated to have a street value of more than Rp 175 million, were found inside his digestive system.

The method of smuggling drugs into the country by swallowing drug-filled receptacles was initially used by drug traffickers from Asian countries like Myanmar, but recently many Africans have started to use the same method to pass through airport customs.

If the traffickers can deceive customs officials, they later take laxatives to discharge and retrieve the receptacles.

Mun'im earlier said that swallowing drug-filled receptacles to avoid detection was very risky. The receptacles could either cause damage to internal organs or burst and kill the courier. (asa/emf)