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Jakarta Post

Drugs smuggled in envelopes, buttons

Customs and excise officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport foiled five drug smuggling attempts that took place over the course of two days, an official said Monday

Multa Fidrus (The Jakarta Post)
Tangerang
Tue, March 13, 2012

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Drugs smuggled in envelopes, buttons

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ustoms and excise officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport foiled five drug smuggling attempts that took place over the course of two days, an official said Monday.

The office head Oza Olivia told a press conference that the airport customs officers together with the police and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) had arrested seven Indonesians as suspects and seized drugs worth Rp 3.2 billion (US$350,000).

Among the suspects was 20-year-old Raka Widyarma, the foster son of Banten Deputy Governor Rano Karno.

On March 4, officers inspected four packages sent from Malaysia through a delivery service company and found a total of 300 nimetazepam pills worth Rp 45 million.

Nimetazepam is a type of ecstasy pill, also known as “happy five” or “halime” on the street.

“The packages were reported as documents. Our officers, disguised as couriers, later delivered the envelopes to the recipients,” Oza said.

One of the packages was sent to an address in Cipete, South Jakarta, where the officers picked up three suspects identified as Diana, 24, a director of a company; her employee PS and A, a disc jockey. The officers also found Raka and his friend Karina Andetia, 19, had been waiting for a drug delivery at an address in Bintaro, South Tangerang. The envelope contained five of the pills worth Rp 2 million.

On the same day the officers arrested MRZ, 27, in Manado, North Sulawesi, the recipient of a package of 16 ecstasy pills worth Rp 6.4 million. The package’s sender, identified by Oza only as AS, reportedly declared the contents of the package to be papers and documents. The officers also seized another package containing 20 ecstasy pills worth Rp 8 million that had been sent by a man identified as D to an address in Karawaci, Tangerang. The recipient had reportedly fled the address before the officers arrived.

On the next day, the officers discovered 628.5 grams of cocaine worth more than Rp 3.142 billion sewn into 178 buttons on women’s dresses sent from India through a delivery service company by a man identified as GNK to a recipient with the initials DIP in Bali. The police arrested a tailor, FI, who showed up to collect the package. He told the officers he was asked by a man called T to take the drugs and was promised Rp 1 million in return.

BNN spokesman Dwiyanto Soemirat said that the airport police were handling the ecstasy pills case, while the cocaine case was submitted to the narcotics body.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto revealed on Monday that Raka ordered the ecstasy pills from a Malaysian drug seller via WhatsApp messenger, a social chat application popular on smartphones.

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