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AKARTA: Customs Office of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport foiled two drug smuggling attempts trying to exploit the overcrowded situation at the airport during the Idul Fitri holiday.

The officers rounded up three Iranians, confiscating 675 grams and 348 grams of low-grade heroin from the suspects.

The smugglers, both 30 years old, arrived in Jakarta on a flight from Tehran and were arrested on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. with small packets of the drug hidden inside the handles of their suitcases.

Earlier on Friday evening, officers apprehended another Iranian, who attempted to smuggle 348 grams of crystal methamphetamine through the aviation hub, also by hiding the packets inside his suitcase handle.

The Saturday arrest brings the number of Iranians nabbed by officers to 19 of 41 drug smuggling cases since January this year, said the office’s head of investigations, Gatot Sugeng Wibowo, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Gatot said that the suspects told the investigators they had anticipated lax security check as many officers went for holiday.

“With the arrest, we proved that we did not reduce our security measures,” Gatot added. — JP