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EDAN: Officers from the Tanjung Balai Police in North Sumatra arrested on Thursday two Indonesian migrant workers for attempting to smuggle 6.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from Malaysia. The suspected drug traffickers, who both hail from Aceh, have been identified as Azh, alias Yusuf, and SBG, alias Jul.

Tanjung Balai Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ayeb Wahyu Gunawan said the suspects were part of an international drug syndicate.

Both suspects, according to Ayeb, were arrested on a boat carrying scores of illegal migrant workers that was arriving at the Tanjung Balai port. The boat was intercepted and escorted to a fish landing facility, where police officers inspected the luggage of the migrant workers on board.

Ayeb said the officers had found a carton filled with crystal meth placed inside the boat near the engine compartment.

'€œWe arrested the two suspects without any resistance. They claimed that the drugs, which were worth Rp 10 billion (US$750,000), had been entrusted to them by an Indonesian citizen living in Malaysia, named Wani,'€ Ayeb said.

Ayeb said the police would work with Interpol and the Malaysian authorities to pursue Wani, who had promised to pay the suspects Rp 120 million to smuggle the crystal meth.