Following the arrest of several pilots in possession of drugs, the Transportation Ministry says that it has started conducting random urine test on pilots, including pilots at airline companies that fly into Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali.
"We have taken urine samples from several pilots to find whether or not they taking drug,” Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono said on the sidelines of a meeting held by the Indonesian Ground Handling Association AGHI) in Kuta on Monday evening.
Bambang said that the results of the test, which had been held secretly away from public eye, were all negative.
"Everyone is clean,” he said without detailing the number of pilots tested.
Bambang said referring to the alleged narcotics use by a Lion Air pilot some time ago that the ministry was still considering whether to sanction airline that had employed the pilot.
"If there has been an intent on the airline company’s behalf to allow its pilot to use narcotics, we will of course impose a sanction."
It has been reported that the National Narcotic Agency has arrested several Lion Air pilots for consuming methyl amphetamine in a room at Garden Palace Hotel in Surabaya on Feb. 4. The police found and seized the evidence from the pilot, 44, who was identified by the initials SS, of Serpong, Tangerang, Banten, in the form of several packs of myth amphetamine weighing 0.4 grams.
Lion Air pilot Syaiful Salam, 44, was arrested two weeks ago in Surabaya, East Java, with 0.04 grams of crystal meth in his possession. He tested positive to the drug in a urine test. The arrest was made only three hours before he was due to fly one of the budget airline’s planes from Surabaya to Makassar, South Sulawesi.
The Transportation Ministry has revoked Syaiful’s pilot’s license.
Syaiful was the third Lion Air pilot to be arrested for drug use within the past seven months.
Two days after Syaiful’s arrest, members of a joint team from the BNN and the Transportation Ministry arrested a copilot from a national airline for susepcted drug use. The copilot was arrested at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport during a random check. (dmr)
