Iranian national apprehended for trading heroin
Iranian national apprehended for trading heroin
JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested an Iranian man for trying to sell 200 grams of heroin to an undercover city police detective at a hotel in Central Jakarta.
The suspect, who was an ex-police officer in his country, was identified as Mansour Abbasi, 38, Maj. Indawan, head of the city's police anti-narcotics squad told reporters.
Police seized plastic bags containing the contraband, worth around Rp 30 million (US$13,000) on the black market here, from Abbasi, according to Indawan, who was accompanied by City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna.
Abbasi was arrested during the transaction at room 224 of the Permata Hotel on Jl. Suryopranoto at around 1 a.m. on Wednesday last week.
"He was shot once in his left leg while trying to throw the bags away and attack me as I showed him my police I.D.," said the undercover officer, who refused to be named.
Abbasi told The Jakarta Post that he got the heroin from someone in Bangkok who asked him to hand it over to someone named Bahman, a Canadian-passport holder, here.
"The person promised I would be paid $3,000," Abbasi said in English. "But, I don't know where Bahman is now," he added.
According to spokesman Iman, the heroin, kept in seven small plastic bags, was swallowed by Abbasi before leaving for Jakarta on Jan. 11.
"He picked them out from his feces soon after he arrived here," Iman said.
Stamps in Abbasi's passport reveal that he has visited several places in Southeast Asia, including Johor Bahru in Malaysia, Singapore, Pattaya in Thailand and South Korea.
As part of their routine operations, the city police anti- narcotics squad recently received information about the activities of a number of foreigners who sell heroin and other types of harmful drugs on Jl. Jaksa, the city's street famed for cheap tourist hotels.
Indawan said the plainclothes detective obtained information about the Iranian drug seller from someone on Jl. Jaksa.
The detective, pretending to be interested in buying the heroin, met Abbasi at a hotel on Jl. Sabang in the early hours of Jan. 15 and arranged a meeting for the next day.
"On the way to the hotel on the next day the suspect appeared hesitant when he saw a car following him and changed the meeting place to the Menteng Hotel," Indawan said.
Finally, he decided to meet in the early hours on Jan. 17 at the 24-hour McDonald restaurant on Jl. Thamrin, Indawan said.
From the restaurant, Abbasi asked the "buyer" to join him in a car to go to the nearby Sogo shopping center.
At the bus stop in front of the shopping center, they took a taxi and changed to another taxi in front of the Ministry of Information on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat before heading to the Permata Hotel.
After confirming that the commodity was heroin, the undercover office revealed his detective badge, shocking the Iranian who quickly snatched the plastic bags and tried to throw the drugs through the window of the hotel room.
"Knowing that the window was still closed, Abbasi tried to attack the detective who produced a gun and shot the suspect in his left leg,"Indawan said. (bsr)