Stricter controls urged to foil smuggling at port

JAKARTA (JP): City Police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata ordered the Tanjung Priok Port police Saturday to tighten controls on the flow of passengers and their luggage at the port to prevent drug smuggling.

Hamami said there was a likelihood drugs syndicates would shift their smuggling attempts to the port following the imposition of stricter controls at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

"People in the drugs business are very well aware that the controls and inspection at the port are still not as strict as on the passengers and their luggage at the airport," he said.

Hamami made the remarks before the installation of Lt. Col. Edy Kuncoro as the new chief of the port police precinct on Saturday, replacing Lt. Col. Arie Soebowo, who has been promoted to be an inspector at the National Police's Institute of Education and Training.

Edy, who previously led the Manokwari police precinct in Irian Jaya, told reporters that he would do his best to both maintain security and uphold the law at the port.

He did not give further details on his vision for the precinct.

"For the time being, I think, I'll stick to the policies which were implemented by my predecessor," was all he said.

Edy said that he agreed with Hamami's order to improve the controls of the passengers and their luggage, and goods imported in containers.

"I think it's time for us to intensify our security controls of the flow of passengers and containers.

"More intensive control would help us catch suspects in drugs- related cases and to cut off the distribution of drugs to the city," he said.

However, he admitted that the precinct had little equipment, such as an X-ray machine to detect contraband in luggage.

Edy explained that the precinct had thus far exercised relatively good control over ships' passengers and their belongings.

Officers at the precinct arrested a man Thursday for attempting to smuggle almost 100 kilograms of marijuana from Medan, North Sumatra, not 70 kilograms as was reported Saturday.

"We haven't weighed the confiscated drugs, but we can estimate that the drugs could weigh around 100 kilograms," Edy said.

The arrested suspect, a passenger on the Bukit Siguntang ship named Hidayah, claimed he was just the courier and not the supplier or trafficker of the drugs, he said.

Hidayah was not alone when he traveled with the drugs from Medan's Belawan port. "The suspect was with another passenger whose identity is known. The person is still at large," he said.

Friday's confiscation of the Aceh-grown marijuana was about the same weight as the haul seized in January this year. The suspect arrested in January was also just a courier who hailed from Medan, but apparently worked for a different group from Hidayah. (cst)