Five Africans shot dead

Five Africans shot dead

JAKARTA (JP): Five foreigners believed to be from African
countries and members of an international drug syndicate were
shot dead during a police raid which ended in a shooting in South
Jakarta on late Wednesday evening.

None of the detectives, led by head of Jakarta Police
detectives Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo were injured in the
shooting which took place at 9 p.m. at a house on Jl. Cempaka Dua
Dalam in Cepete. Two revolvers were seized during the raid.

Alex told The Jakarta Post at the scene that the identities of
the five Africans were being withheld since they used different
names from time to time.

The raid at the house, rented by the five foreigners, was
carried out after police seized some seven kilograms of cocaine
from an Indonesian couple at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. The couple
were about to bring the drug to Canada and London via Hong Kong
on a flight early in the afternoon.

"We've been observing these members of a big international
drugs ring for at least three years. We have several times
attempted to bust this gang, but there had been a lack of
evidence," Alex said.

According to the officer, the five had been on the police list
for the past three years as the biggest suppliers of cocaine and
heroin to Jakarta.

"They had just arrived with the drug from London, via India
and Nepal, before hiring the Indonesian couple to bring the
cocaine to London and Canada on the same day," Alex said.

A kilogram of cocaine has a street price of some Rp 600
million here, he added. (ylt/bsr)