Drug mule nabbed at airport

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang

A joint team of police and customs and excise officers foiled an attempt to smuggle a kilogram of shabu-shabu (crystal metamphetamine) onto a flight to Medan, North Sumatra, at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The team also arrested a suspect and seized the drugs as evidence.

The airport customs and excise chief Novrial told a press conference on Wednesday that the suspect was identified as HN, a resident of Medan.

"We can't announce the suspect's complete identity as the case is still being investigated," he said.

The suspect passing a security check before flying to Medan on June 10 at 5:10 p.m.

"When he passed the security check point, the metal detector made a noise. Security officers stopped him and searched his pockets, but they only found his cellular phone," Novrial said.

The officers became suspicious as the suspect looked panicky and they kept searching until they found eight plastic bags strapped to his body.

The plastic bags contained one kilogram of shabu-shabu, with a street value of around Rp 300 million (US$31,915).

Airport Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Firman Santyabudi surmised that the suspect was a member of a drug trafficking syndicate that frequently uses the Jakarta-Medan-Malaysia route.

"We already interrogated the suspect, but he consistently claims that he forgot or he does not know. In his latest statement, he admitted that he received the drugs from Acasia Hotel in Central Jakarta," he said.

Police will charge HN with violating Article 59 and 72 of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropics. If convicted, he will receive a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a Rp 750 million fine.

"State losses from drug smuggling cannot be estimated because drugs will destroy the young generation and increase social unrest and criminality," Firman said.

It was the second drug smuggling attempt foiled at the airport this year. In May, security officers foiled an attempt to smuggle 20,800 ecstasy pills from Jakarta to Australia.