Police link Ecstasy arrest to international drug ring
Police link Ecstasy arrest to international drug ring
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian police, in cooperation with Interpol, are still questioning a man and a woman arrested at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport recently for possessing thousands of Ecstasy pills.
National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Nurfaizi said yesterday that the police wanted to know if the two were members of any international drug syndicate.
According to Nurfaizi, the police are also interrogating several people believed to be close friends of the suspects.
The suspects, both of whom are local people of Chinese descent, were arrested separately in the compound of the international airport.
The man, identified as Piong Siong, alias Avon van Andreas, alias Avon, 37, was apprehended on Tuesday evening by National Police detectives in his Isuzu minivan in the airport's parking lot. He had 711 pills and Rp 7.5 million in cash in his possession.
The woman, identified as Elisabeth Lusye Wongkar, 41, (not 20 years old as earlier reported) was apprehended the next day by airport Customs and Excise officers when she was about to get into a taxi. She had 9,024 pills hidden in her bags.
Elisabeth arrived at 6:55 p.m. from Frankfurt, Germany, by a Lufthansa flight which stopped in Singapore.
During a brief talk with reporters at the National Police Headquarters yesterday, the two claimed they did not know each other. Some of the pills Avon attempted to smuggle in are similar to those of Elisabeth's. The were in possession of Ecstasy pills called Tango, Electric and Melon.
Avon said that he was waiting for two business partners from Hong Kong when the police broke into his car and found the pills and the money.
"All the stuff is mine," he told reporters, adding that he bought the pills at the Zodiac discotheque here from a Dutch national named Theo, who is still at large.
"I used the Ecstasy pills for myself, but sometimes my friends purchase them at Rp 30,000 each," said Avon.
His two partners from Hong Kong, here for the bird nest business, have already been questioned by the police, Avon said.
According to Col. Soeprapto, head of the National Police narcotics division, the two Hong Kong nationals have only been named as eyewitnesses.
When asked by reporters, Elisabeth said that she purchased the pills in Den Haag, the Netherlands, from a friend called Soni.
She said that she planned to sell the pills to selected customers at certain discotheques here.
"It's the third time I carried Ecstacy pills to Indonesia when the Customs officers arrested me on Wednesday," said Elisabeth, who has reddish blond hair.
The woman said that she was to be picked up by her friend, Nanny, at the airport. Nanny has also been questioned.
"We have observed the two suspects for a long time," said spokesman Nurfaizi.
Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is popular among young Indonesian adults and teenagers attending "raves" -- huge, extended dance parties.
The presence of Ecstasy in Indonesia, mostly in the form of colorful pills, received publicity for the first time in connection with the mysterious death of a young businessman at the house of well-known actress Ria Irawan in January last year.
The drug can be illegally purchased at certain discotheques and other places in the city through for between Rp 75,000 and Rp 200,000 per pill.
Until today, there is uncertainty about whether those found guilty of possessing, consuming or selling Ecstasy can be brought to justice under Indonesia's 19-year-old narcotics law because the chemical substances in Ecstasy do not appear in the legislation as narcotic elements. (bsr)