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)