Two foreigners held for heroin possession

JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested two foreigners for allegedly possessing and trafficking heroin.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said yesterday the men were arrested Tuesday afternoon after police found them in possession of 39 ampules of heroin.

"The two men were Nigerian and Ghanaian, they were identified as Enu Ola, 30, and Kofi Frimpang, 28," Aritonang said.

Enu and Kofi were arrested in a rest room of an office building on Jl. Johar, Central Jakarta.

Aritonang said the two had run into the rest room to hide from police.

Police had seen two foreigners behaving strangely in a taxi, Aritonang said.

"A police car just happened to be behind a taxi when they noticed that two men in the taxi kept looking behind them as if they were afraid of being followed," Aritonang said.

Enu and Kofi ran into the office building when their taxi was stopped by police.

Aritonang said that one of the two men tried to throw away the 39 ampules, which were in a sock, during the chase.

"The men said they smuggled the ampules into Indonesia by swallowing them," Aritonang said.

The two suspects also said that each of them still had five ampules in their stomachs, Aritonang added.

Kofi, a college student in Ghana, told police that it was his first visit to Indonesia. He entered the country earlier this month via Belawan Harbor, Medan, North Sumatra.

Enu said that he had visited the country several times as a tourist.

Aritonang said the National Police forensic laboratory was still examining the heroin. Further details on the quality and origin of the heroin were still being investigated.

At least six other foreigners had been arrested in Jakarta this year for alleged involvement in smuggling, possession and/or trafficking of heroin. At least 1.6 kilograms of heroin had been seized from the alleged suspects.

Two Nepalese and a Briton, along with six Indonesians, were arrested last month for smuggling and distributing 1,297 grams of high-grade Nepalese heroin valued at around Rp 300 million (US$125,000). The Nepalese also smuggled the heroin by swallowing it.

Earlier last week, a Nigerian, an Ethiopian and a South African were arrested with four Indonesians for illegally possessing 318 grams of heroin. (cst)