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)