Drug smuggling from Malaysia to Indonesia on the rise

The Directorate General of Customs and Excise announced that drug trafficking from Malaysia to Indonesia was on the rise, evinced by recent arrests of suspected drug syndicate agents.

The Finance Ministry’s Customs and Excise director general Agung Kuswandono said in Medan on Thursday that the arrests of traffickers smuggling drugs from Malaysia had increased rapidly.

Agung added that a few years ago, drug arrests were generally limited to Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, but now drug traffickers were often arrested at a wider range of airports in Indonesia, including Medan, Aceh, Tarakan and Lombok.

He said drug traffickers used diverse modes to smuggle drugs from Malaysia, citing the mode used by a suspect caught on Thursday at Medan’s Polonia airport. “Today, our officers were able to detain a suspect attempting to smuggle in drugs by inserting them in his anus. This is considered new,” Agung said.

Agung said the modes of drug trafficking from Malaysia which had been foiled thus far included swallowing, hiding drugs in baggage and shoes, and, in one case, inside a Koran.

The head of the Prevention and Enforcement division of the Medan Customs and Excise Office, Bobby Patigor, said that the number of arrests of traffickers from Malaysia at the airport as of October this year stood at seven, compared to six cases last year. “One of the suspects caught this year was from Vietnam and the rest from Indonesia,” Bobby said.

Agung added that previously, most drug couriers who smuggled in drugs from Malaysia were Indonesian citizens, but lately an increasing number of them came from other Asian nations, the Middle East and Europe.

When reached for comment, the Malaysian consul in Medan, Noorlin Othman, said he had been informed about the drug trafficking from Malaysia to Indonesia. He said that there was supply and demand.

However, when asked why the Malaysian government did not tightly monitor drug traffickers intending to smuggle drugs to Indonesia, Noorlin said he could not comment.

“I am not authorized to answer because I’m in charge here [Medan], while the incidents took place there [Malaysia],” Noorlin told the Post on Thursday.