Nigerian arrested for smuggling

JAKARTA (JP): Customs and Excise officers have arrested a Nigerian believed to have smuggled 300 grams of heroin in a book air-mailed from Thailand.

A local man is also being held in connection with the case.

Director of the Smuggling Prevention and Investigation Unit of the Indonesian Customs and Excise Office, Thomas Sugijata, said Saturday the two suspects, arrested on Friday morning, will be handed over to National Police investigators for further questioning.

The Nigerian is identified only as Em and the local as Es, a motorcycle taxi driver.

Sugijata said customs officers at the Soekarno-Hatta International airport became suspicious of the package sent through the Express Mail Service company.

The package was sent by a company called New Collection Crystal Co. Ltd. of Bangkok. It was addressed to Es on Jl. Kebon Kacang, Central Jakarta.

The officers delivered the package to the Central Jakarta post office themselves, Sugijata said.

Es was arrested by the waiting officers when he tried to pick up the package at the post office.

Es told police he was paid Rp 20,000 (US$6.25) to pick up the package by Em, who was staying at the nearby Tanah Abang Indah Hotel. Es was to pick up the package and deliver it to Em, who said it had been sent by his girlfriend in Nigeria.

Em was later arrested at the hotel by the police, who found Rp 50 million in cash and several documents in his possession.

The 300 grams of heroin has a street value of around Rp 100 million here, Sugijata said. (bsr)