Togolese caught with 8.6kg of heroin

Togolese caught with 8.6kg of heroin

JAKARTA (JP): Customs officers at Soekarno-Hatta International
Airport have arrested a 30-year-old Togolese for allegedly
smuggling 8.6 kilograms of first-grade opium alkaloid into the
country inside a 21-inch television set, an official said
yesterday.

Head of the custom and excise services unit Conny Sunanto said
Wednesday that the suspect, identified only as KIS, was detained
upon his arrival on Thai Airways flight TG-413 from Bangkok on
Saturday afternoon.

The heroin, which has a street value of Rp 10 billion
(US$100,000), is the largest shipment intercepted by the
authorities this year.

According to Sunanto, customs officers were not at first
suspicious of KIS until their specially-trained sniffer dogs
approached the man and began to bark furiously.

They took him aside for questioning and then later detained
him.

"The suspect was unable to turn the television set on when
asked to during questioning," he added.

The officers later found the narcotics carefully wrapped in
plastic bags and strapped inside the television set, he said.

During interrogation the suspect admitted that he had thought
security at the airport was lax and that he would be able to
enter the country unchallenged.

The suspect has been handed over to the National Police, who
have now taken responsibility for the case, Sunanto said.

Three drug smugglers have been arrested at the airport this
month. On May 9 a Liberian and a Gambian were caught attempting
to bring 765 grams of heroin into the country, Sunanto said. The
heroin was packed into 55 capsules, he added.

The two also arrived in Indonesia from Bangkok, he said.

"The drugs had been hidden in a number of different places,
such as in their shorts, wallets and sandals," he explained.

Last year, customs officers at the airport seized 63,481
Ecstasy pills, 4.1 kilograms of shabu-shabu (an amphetamine
derivative), 5.8 kg of heroin and 3 kg of hashish. (41/edt)