Police Foil 10kg Marijuana Smuggling Attempt Concealed in Vespa Package on Intercity Bus

The Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) of the Indonesian National Police has foiled an attempt to smuggle 9,996.98 grammes of marijuana via an ALS intercity bus. To deceive officers, the illicit goods were concealed alongside a package of sugar, dodol (a traditional sweet), and a red Vespa scooter. Brigadier General Eko Hadi Santoso, Director of Narcotics Crime at Bareskrim, explained that the operation began with routine surveillance at the Bakauheni Port in Lampung on Wednesday (22/7), where the team became suspicious of a package destined for the ALS bus pool in Medaeng, Sidoarjo, East Java. A controlled delivery was subsequently conducted, tracking the bus from Lampung to its final destination. Upon the bus’s arrival at the pool on Jalan Letjen Sutoyo on Thursday (23/7), a man identified as Rahmat Fausan (27) arrived to collect the package and the Vespa. Officers immediately arrested him. During interrogation, Rahmat Fausan admitted he was the recipient and owner of the package, which contained the marijuana. He confessed to planning to transport the drugs to Bali for direct sale at an average price of IDR 6 million per kilogramme. He also revealed this was his second smuggling attempt, following a successful delivery of 1 kilogramme of marijuana via the same route on 20 June 2026. Police are now hunting two other suspects: Anto Monel, the alleged supplier based in Medan, and Fathurahman Al Jufri, the courier who delivered the package to the bus. The total value of the seized evidence is estimated at IDR 39,987,920.