Smuggling attempt foiled at airport

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Customs and excise officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport managed to foil an attempt to smuggle 1,010 grams of heroin from Katmandu into the country late on Wednesday, an official announced on Thursday.

Airport Customs and Excise chief Jusuf Indarto said the suspect was a former migrant worker in Taiwan, Merri Utami, 27, who was a resident of Sukoharjo, Central Java.

According to Jusuf, the suspect, who arrived at Terminal D of the airport at 11:30 p.m. on Singapore Airlines flight SQ 166, had inserted two plastic bags containing the heroin into the sides of her handbag, which appeared unusually thick.

As officers questioned the suspect, an unidentified man called her cellular phone, telling her to take the heroin to Hotel Acacia in Central Jakarta.

Escorted by customs officers and the police, the suspect headed to the hotel. But the man called again, telling her to meet him at Hotel Mega Matra on Jl. Matraman, East Jakarta. As the man still did not appear after a wait of an hour, the suspect was finally taken to the National Police Headquarters for further questioning.

The suspect said she had obtained the drug from her Canadian boyfriend, Jerry, with whom she had become acquainted three months ago.

In June, the authorities arrested another woman, Edith Yunita Sianturi, 24, for attempted drug smuggling. In August, a Thai woman, Nonthanam M. Saichon, 21, who inserted nine packets of heroin, weighing 600 grams in total, into her underpants and bra, was also arrested.

Saichon's case is still being processed at the National Police Headquarters.