Foreigners released

JAKARTA (JP): The police have released three foreigners and a local who had earlier been accused for a drugs transaction, a police officer says.

"After a series of laboratory tests, we finally came to a conclusion that the powder found in their possession during the raids was not heroin powder, nor any other drug," City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Iman, however, gave no details on the substance, saying that: "It's just a powder."

Following the completion of the laboratory tests, police immediately released all the suspects, including two Nigerians and a Canadian, who were detained on Tuesday evening near the McDonald's outlet at the Sarinah building on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

They were arrested by the local police after a heated debate among them at which the officers found eight small plastic bags containing the powder and US$13,000 in cash. (bsr)