More than 10 kgs of cocaine found at airport
More than 10 kgs of cocaine found at airport
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Customs and excise officers discovered 10.6 kilograms of cocaine
hidden in an unclaimed suitcase left since Monday at the
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, but have yet to trace the
perpetrators.
"The cocaine was found in one of two bags left without name
tags. The two bags were sent through Singapore Airlines SQ164
from Singapore on Monday," Jusuf Indarto, head of customs and
excise at the airport, told a media conference on Wednesday.
Jusuf said that the unclaimed luggage should have been
returned to Singapore but since there was no name and address on
the bags they were kept for further investigation.
Suspicious officers later opened the two suitcases, and found
11 packages containing white powder in one of the bags.
A narcotest confirmed that the white powder was cocaine.
Weighing 10.6 kilograms in total it is worth Rp 19 billion
(US$2.24 million).
Jusuf said that the case was now in the hands of the National
Police detectives who are still tracing the sender and the
receiver of the unclaimed luggage.
Earlier in the day, one of the passengers of the flight, a
resident of Pejaten, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, reported to a
missing suitcase to the lost and found counter at the airport.
The airport's customs and excise officers, policemen and staff
of delivery service company PT Jaya Angkasa Semesta went to the
passenger's residence in Pejaten with the two unclaimed bags, but
the person claimed the other bag.
Since June, the airport's customs and excise officers have
confiscated various kinds of drugs smuggled through the airport
that ended up at the lost and found counter.
The officers destroyed the drugs on Wednesday, including 3,541
ecstasy pills, 300 tranquilizer pills and 2.5 kilograms of
marijuana.
District courts across the country, particularly in Tangerang,
have been handing down harsh sentences against drug traffickers.
Dozens of convicts, most of whom are foreigners, are on death row
for drug dealing and smuggling.
Articles 81 and 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics carry a
maximum punishment of death and a Rp 1 billion fine.
However, the tough sentences seem not to be effective as a
deterrent to drug smugglers.
In August, some 13.7 kilograms of cocaine was found hidden in
the frame of a hang glider belonging to Brazilian Marco Archer
Cardoso Moreira. He fled the customs area at the Soekarno-Hatta
airport leaving his belongings behind. Moreira, who is believed
to be a courier of an international drug syndicate was arrested
in Banyuaji, Sumbawa island, West Nusa Tenggara, after 16 days on
the run.