Ecstasy smuggler arrested

Ecstasy smuggler arrested

JAKARTA (JP): Soekarno-Hatta airport customs and excise
officials have arrested an Indonesian for trying to smuggle in
13.689 Ecstasy pills worth more than Rp 1.3 billion (US$582,510)
from Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Nisfu Chasbullah, the head of the airport's customs and
excise, said the man, identified only as FZA, 33, was apprehended
on Thursday night as he arrived from Rotterdam, via Frankfurt, on
a Lufthansa flight.

He said FZA, who claimed to work for a Japanese restaurant in
Rotterdam, had hidden the pills in his luggage.

Caught by the X-Ray detectors, the green, gray and blue pills
were all tightly wrapped in plastic, clothes, carbon paper and a
bullet-proof waistcoat, he added.

Nisfu said the men was handed over to the police for further
questioning.

Customs and excise officials at the airport have arrested nine
Ecstasy smugglers and seized a total of 126,221 pills in the past
five months, he said.

One Ecstasy pill costs between Rp 100,000 and Rp 125,000 here.
(jun)