Two Nigerians shot dead for drug trafficking

JAKARTA (JP): Police personnel shot dead on Tuesday night two Nigerians over alleged drug trafficking.

Their bodies were brought to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital morgue on the same night.

Deputy chief of the Central Jakarta Police Precinct Asst. Supt. Iza Fadri said the police had long suspected the two as drug traffickers.

"We observed them for a month, and when we received information that they would have a drug transaction here, we sent police officers to arrest them," he told reporters.

"But they were shot in the process," he said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the two corpses had been examined by the hospital's forensic doctors. However, up until Wednesday evening, no relatives or friends of the two Nigerians had come forward to take care of the bodies.

The two men were shot dead on Tuesday night by police personnel in front of OC African Food on Jl. Warung Buntu in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

The two Nigerians were identified as Chizoe Joebie, 34, and Bao, 30. Chizoe was shot in the head, while his companion Bao was shot in the stomach.

From the two, the police seized evidence namely low-grade heroin "putaw" and shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), totaling 30 grams in weight.

Others

The police also detained other people in the location, believed to be Africans, identified as Hilbert Vermound, Richard, Benjamin, Saiko, Alexander Manze, Onya, Jumna, Motopaus and Dresson. It was not known whether they were all Nigerians or Africans of different nationalities.

Tanah Abang is a home for Africans, who are mostly garment traders. The police have caught several times and even shot dead Africans, implicated in drug cases. (asa)