Drug smuggling foiled at airport

TANGERANG: Customs and excise officers foiled the smuggling of 28.5 kilograms of marijuana from Banda Aceh at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport last week.

Customs and Excise Director General Permana Agung said on Thursday the drug senders and receivers were still being investigated by the police.

He said the senders sent the marijuana from Banda Aceh on two occasions in different packages using special express postal services on June 27 and June 30.

In order to deceive officers, the senders mixed the marijuana with coffee, salted fish and chips, which were wrapped neatly in packages covered with carbon paper.

Officers in charge of supervision at the airport's airmail exchange office and officers in charge of the airport's domestic lost and found section became suspicious of the unclaimed packages that had been there for a week, he said.

Permana said over the last three months, the customs and excise office had managed to foil 14 similar cases.--JP