Nigerian nabbed for Rp 70m heroin

Nigerian nabbed for Rp 70m heroin

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police arrested a Nigerian citizen, identified as Fan
Fan Okonkwo Jade, alias Ifanyi, 28, on Monday afternoon for
alleged possession of 100 grams of heroin with an approximate
street value of Rp 70 million (US$8,235). The detectives
apprehended him at a restaurant on Jl. Agus Salim, Central
Jakarta.

"When we approached him, he stuffed two plastic bags of heroin
inside his pants," the city police narcotics division chief Adj.
Sr. Comr. Anjan P. Putra announced on Tuesday.

The arrest was made possible after a tip-off from citizens.
Detectives later worked undercover as drug dealers to follow him.

"The restaurant is one of the targeted places as many Africans
staying in Jakarta often gather and meet," Anjan said.

The suspect is now being detained at the Jakarta Police
Headquarters narcotics detention center.

"He claimed that the foiled transaction was his first heroin
deal," Anjan said. "But, we believe he's a long time player."

"Ifanyi is a suspected member of a syndicate led by a Nigerian
nicknamed 'Doctor', who was sentenced to death earlier this month
by the Central Jakarta District Court," he added.

Doctor was arrested by the Jakarta Police last year in a
restaurant in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Police had taken
notice of the restaurant because it too was a meeting point for
Africans.

Anjan said Ifanyi had insisted that he did not have his
passport because it was being held as collateral by an Indonesian
man from whom he had borrowed Rp 26 million.

Speaking in broken English, Ifanyi said he did not know
anything about the heroin and claimed it was a set up by his
friend.

The suspect first came to Indonesia in 1998 and stays for
several months each time he visits Jakarta. He claimed that he
was in the garment business, purchasing baby clothes from Tanah
Abang textile market to be sold in his country Nigeria.