Three Pakistanis arrested for heroin possession

Three Pakistanis arrested for heroin possession

JAKARTA (JP): Three Pakistani men were arrested Tuesday for
allegedly possessing heroin and keeping it at their house in
Central Jakarta, police said.

Two were shot in the leg for resisting arrest, City Police
Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said yesterday. Police had raided
the residence of two men, identified as Cms and Cmr, on Jl. Tanah
Tinggi, Central Jakarta.

An accomplice, identified as La, was arrested yesterday
afternoon at his hideout on Jl. Tebet Timur Dalam, South Jakarta.
Police had shot La in the left leg after he tried to attack
officers.

Aritonang said police arrested Cms and confiscated 0.5
kilograms of heroin worth around Rp 150 million (US$61,475).
One gram is worth approximately Rp 300,000.

Police also seized 20 Pakistan passports, which were believed
to be forgeries, as well as a fake immigration rubber stamp.

Police suspected the three had been operating in the country
since 1996.

"Police had to shoot Cmr because he tried to run away. He was
shot in the right leg and is now being treated at Kramat Djati
Police Hospital in East Jakarta," Aritonang said.

Cms and Cmr's arrest resulted from a tip-off police got from
neighbors, he said.

"Both denied possessing the heroin. They claimed it belonged
to a friend," Aritonang said.

Police were still investigating the suspects' possible
involvement in a drug syndicate, he added.

Meanwhile, head of the immigration public relations
department, Mursanudin A. Ghani, was quoted by the Antara news
agency as saying that his department would cooperate with police
to deport the two men.

Ghani said the men could only be deported if there was a
request from City Police Headquarters.

If the two were brought to trial, he said, the men would be
deported after a sentence was delivered and served.

According to the immigration department, Article 51 of 1976
regulation no. 9 allows the deportation of foreigners arrested in
Indonesia involved in drug dealing or abuse, either inside or
outside the country.

Indonesia also has the authority to deport foreigners to their
country of origin, regardless of any extradition treaty between
Indonesia and their countries.

The National Police Department has deported at least 11
foreigners for involvement in drug-related crimes since 1981.

The latest case involved an American, Michael Gary Miller, who
was deported in May. The immigration department said Miller was
suspected of smuggling marijuana from Thailand to America for
more than 10 years.

Most of the other foreigners had been handed over to their
respective countries' representatives at airports, including
Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali where seven were extradited from.

Extradited foreigners included four Danes who were involved in
a heroin case in 1984, an Australian involved in narcotics in
1986, a French citizen in a heroin case in 1991, and four
Americans who were separately involved in heroin and marijuana
cases in 1981, 1991, 1992 and 1997. (cst)