Police and customs make big drug bust

JAKARTA (JP): Police and airport customs and excise officers here on Sunday foiled a smuggling attempt of 1.9 kilograms of marijuana, 42 grams of cocaine and 148,700 ecstasy pills from Hong Kong and arrested two men suspected of being couriers for the syndicate.

The first large haul this year, the drugs -- concealed in a VCD player and toy trucks -- are estimated to have a street value of about Rp 1.5 billion.

In a joint press conference on Thursday, chief of the National Police narcotics unit Col. Wilhelmus Laturete and head of the customs and excise office at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Tony Soenanta, disclosed that Sunday's haul was made based on a tip-off received by the National Police detectives from their counterparts in Hong Kong.

"(We were told) the package would be shipped from Hong Kong via one of Cathay Pacific's flights," Wilhelmus said, without giving further details.

Acting on the tip-off, the police then contacted the airport's customs and excise officials, asking them to first let the packages through so as to catch the culprits.

Upon the arrival of the packages on Sunday, the airport's officials detected the marijuana, pills and cocaine, which were all kept in eight plastic bags.

Six of the bags were hidden inside a VCD player, and the other two concealed inside toy trucks.

The "New Year packages", as they were referred to in the tip- off, were then picked up by two men, Wilhelmus said.

"After the two took the packages, our plainclothes detectives tailed them until they stopped at a rented house near the Mega Mall in Pluit, North Jakarta. We apprehended them there," he said.

Based on preliminary police investigation, the two are believed to have acted only as couriers for several drug dealers here, Wilhelmus said.

As the case is still under investigation, the officer refused to name the suspects, but identified them only as Yd and Apr.

Both suspects are now in the custody of the National Police.

Wilhelmus said the haul was a New Year gift for his unit, as it was the first case handled by his men so far this year.

"It's not only our first case but it's a big case," he said, adding that he appreciated the cooperation of other parties involved, including the Hong Kong police. (emf)