Foreigners nabbed for smuggling 6 kgs of meth, heroin

Customs and excise officers at the Soekarno-Hatta airport have arrested two Cambodians and a
Thai, all women, and foiled their attempt to smuggle 3.9 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (shabu-shabu) worth Rp 5.9 billion and 2 kilograms of heroin worth Rp 10.1 billion over the weekend.

As the investigation into the case developed, the police arrested a Nigerian national and an Indonesian woman who acted as collectors of the drugs at a hotel in Central Jakarta.

Nasar Salim, head of the Banten customs and excise office, told a press conference on Tuesday that one of the Cambodian women, identified as Phi Thidi, 25, arrived at the airport from Bangkok on Saturday, while the other Cambodian woman, Vin Vanna, 32, and the Thai girl, Suchanta Pantong, 27, landed in Jakarta on Sunday.

Salim said the customs tactical unit officers who observed arriving passengers at terminal II of the airport were suspicious of Phi Thidi who looked nervous. The suspicion was proved as their scanner detected strange objects inside her back pack.

“Officers then open the back pack and found 1,900 grams of shabu-shabu hidden inside,” Salim said.

The scanner also detected suspicious objects inside Vin Vanna’s back pack. Following a search, the officers discovered 2 kilograms of alleged morphine. But the police failed to find receivers of the drug, which was supposed to be transferred in a hotel in Blok M, South Jakarta.

Officers also found 2,050 grams of shabu-shabu wrapped in four plastic bags in the back pack carried by Suchanta Pantong.

Since January, customs officers have foiled 50 attempts to smuggle drugs worth a total of Rp 341 billion.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Heru Supriasto from the National Police drug division said international drug syndicates had recruited Cambodians and Thais in place of Iranians and Malaysians to help them smuggle the drugs into Indonesia.

He said the police had detected that the drug smuggling attempts were controlled from behind a prison in Jakarta.