Man arrested with 4.8kg of heroin

TANGERANG (JP): Customs officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have made their first illegal drugs arrest of the year of an Indonesian man who allegedly tried to smuggle 4.884 kg of second-grade heroin into the country.

The custom and excise office's acting chief, Harjadi, said yesterday that Joumin allegedly carried the gold-type heroin, known as shabu-shabu, with an estimated street value of Rp 1.5 billion (US$150,000) on his arrival from Hong Kong Monday.

He said the drug was wrapped in plastic bags and strapped around the 30-year-old man's buttocks, thighs and left calf.

"He was arrested at the customs counter Monday night on his arrival on Cathay Pacific flight CX 719 from Hong Kong," he said.

Joumin admitted he obtained the drug in Shenzen, southern China, Harjadi said. He added that the suspect could be a member of an international drugs syndicate.

His office received information on Joumin from the head of customs and excise at the Juanda Airport in Surabaya, who formerly worked at a customs office in Hong Kong.

"Joumin confessed that he had rehearsed smuggling twice, but not with drugs. He said he had only wrapped noncontraband around his body," Harjadi said.

The suspect claimed this was to compare the customs practices at the Jakarta and Hong Kong airports, he added.

"Joumin said the security procedures applied by airport officials in Hong Kong were more rigid than they were in Jakarta. In Hong Kong, the officers go as far as checking on belts," Harjadi said.

He said Joumin claimed he was a drugs courier. "The syndicate promised to pay him Rp 12 million ($1,200) if he succeeded in smuggling the shabu-shabu to Jakarta."

He declined to give more information on the alleged syndicate or where and to whom the drug would be sold in the country.

Joumin and the heroin have been handed over to the National Police for further investigation, he added.

Last year, the airport customs office seized 63,481 Ecstasy pills, 4,106 grams of shabu-shabu, 5,770 grams of heroin and 2,980 grams of hashish. (41/cst)