Police looking into drug syndicate

Police looking into drug syndicate

JAKARTA (JP): City Police detectives are looking for three
Nigerians believed to be members of a well-organized Jakarta-
Bangkok-Hong Kong heroin trafficking syndicate, an official
announced Monday.

The three were placed on the police's most wanted list
following the arrest of four alleged local dealers in raids over
the weekend, Tambora Police subprecinct chief Maj. Chairul Anwar
said.

"According to the arrested suspects, the three Nigerians
staying in a hotel in Central Jakarta have run their illegal
business in this country for about six months," the officer said.

The police, he said, strongly believed that the Nigerians had
become major heroin suppliers in several big cities in the
country.

According to Chairul, the three might have smuggled heroin
into the country through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport
by swallowing the drugs, carefully packed in receptacles such as
condoms.

The officer refused to further discuss the operation of the
three Nigerians, but said the information from the four alleged
dealers was more than enough.

The four suspected dealers were arrested in two separate raids
by Tambora Police on Saturday and Sunday, Chairul said. Two of
them are women.

Police confiscated from them Rp 7 million, 800 grams of putaw
(low-grade heroin) with a street value of about Rp 300 million
and several grams of heroin kept in a Malboro cigarette box.

They have been identified as widow Tina of Jl. Keselamatan in
West Jakarta, married couple Mark and Agnes of Petojo and Apeng
of Pekojan, all in West Jakarta.

The city has witnessed the arrests and trials of dozens of
Nigerians for alleged involvement in drug trafficking here over
the past two years.

The number of Nigerians in the capital has also increased,
particularly in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

Staying in cheap hotels, such as those in the Petamburan area,
most Nigerians claim they visit Indonesia to purchase tons of
textiles for export to their country. (emf)