Suspected smuggler not S. African

Suspected smuggler not S. African

JAKARTA (JP): A man arrested for smuggling 320 grams of
morphine on Jan. 8 is not a South African citizen as reported,
the South African embassy said.

The embassy said on Tuesday that after checking passport
details and the suspect's fingerprints, the embassy determined
the suspect was not a South African citizen.

"The passport he was using was the passport reportedly stolen
some months earlier," the embassy said.

According to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Customs and
Excise officers, Lombane Cosbane was arrested with 25 capsules
of morphine.

The airport customs and excise office chief Nisfu Chasbullah,
said the man swallowed 11 capsules and kept the remaining 14
capsules in his jeans.

The suspect collapsed at the airport soon after he arrived
from Bangkok via Singapore. Chasbullah said some of the capsules
the suspect had swallowed probably leaked causing him to
collapse.

The embassy said that new South African passports had certain
identifications and only authorities could determine its
authenticity.

The identifications made it difficult for anybody to forge or
tamper.

The embassy said that so far the measures have been successful
in curbing frauds involving South African passports. (sur)