Myanmar man arrested with 3.4kg of heroin

JAKARTA (JP): Customs officers and police detectives have arrested a man from Myanmar at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for allegedly smuggling 3.4 kilograms of high-grade heroin into the country, an official said yesterday.

National Police Detective Corps commander Brig. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar told reporters that Maung Ohn Tin, 34, was handcuffed upon arrival Monday evening from Bangkok on Thai Airways flight number TG-985.

The drugs, which have an estimated street value here of Rp 4 billion (US$275,860), were wrapped in plastic bags and allegedly strapped under Maung's bag.

"When the bag passed through the X-ray machine, the red light went on, and the customs officers quickly examined it," Da'i said.

The suspect and the heroin were later handed over to the National Police for further investigation.

During police questioning, Maung reportedly admitted that he was hired as a courier to smuggle the drugs to Jakarta. He was to hand them over to the owner, a Nigerian staying here, he said.

"The suspect said he expected airport security wouldn't be very tight."

Police are currently looking for the owner of the drugs.

"He's probably one of several Nigerian drug traffickers here," he said.

In an unrelated development, a prosecutor asked Central Jakarta District Court Monday to sentence a 35-year-old Myanmarese man to death for smuggling 4.4 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia from Bangkok.

Prosecutor R. Sitanggang told the court that the defendant, Shwe Maung, who was arrested on Nov. 14 last year at Tanah Abang Indah Hotel in Central Jakarta, had been shown to be guilty and should therefore not be excused.

"We asked the court to sentence the defendant to death because he has damaged the government's efforts to eliminate drug trafficking. The defendant also gave complicated statements during the trial," Sitanggang said.

He said the accused had been ordered by his boss, identified as Maung Maung, to deliver the drugs to a Nigerian, identified as Hamed Umar Rufai, in Jakarta.

The heroin showed up on an X-ray machine when Shwe Maung passed through customs at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Nov. 12, the prosecutor said.

Two days later, undercover detectives posing as hotel employees raided the defendant's room and arrested him, Sitanggang said.

Following his arrest, police made the defendant contact Maung Maung and ask him to send Hamed to collect the bag, he said.

When Hamid appeared at the rendezvous and realized he had been set up, he made a desperate attempt to escape during which he was shot dead by police, the prosecutor disclosed.

Sitanggang said the defendant was guilty of violating Article 82 (1) of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics.

After the trial session, the defendant claimed outside the court that he had just come to Indonesia on holiday.

"The bag belonged to my guide who was shot dead by police. I knew nothing about the heroin," Shwe Maung told The Jakarta Post.

Presiding judge I.G.N. Putra adjourned the trial until next week to hear the defense lawyer's plea. (jun/edt)