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ANGERANG: Customs and excise officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport arrested an Iranian national for trying to smuggle 1.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine worth Rp 2.2 billion (US$ 243,800).

Customs office head Iyan Rubianto said Thursday that the 43-year-old suspect, a wrestling coach in Tehran, arrived Monday from Dubai on a Garuda Indonesia flight.

He said the suspect hid the drugs inside a laptop computer in the monitor, keypad, optical disk drive, speaker, battery charger and in a box of perfume.

“We turned on the laptop and it worked, but when we reexamined it, we found the drugs hidden inside,” he said.

The suspect said he was carrying the drugs for a recipient in Jakarta, who was to have sent it to Bali, Iyan added.

Iyan said the suspect was the third Iranian arrested at the airport this month for smuggling drugs. Officers also arrested a French national and a Philippine national at the airport this year for smuggling crystal meth.

Customs officers have seized 8.2 kilograms of the drug worth Rp 12.2 billion in five incidents so far this year. — JP