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Tested positive for narcotics, Indian pilot arrested in West Nusa Tenggara
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Stay clean: Police personnel attend urine tests at the Langsa Police headquarters in Aceh on March 17. (ANTARA FOTO/Syifa Yulinnas)
O
fficers of the West Nusa Tenggara chapter of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN NTB) apprehended a pilot of a private airline company after he allegedly tested positive for narcotics.
BNN NTB head Sr.Comr. Sukisto said the pilot, an Indian citizen who was identified only as RS, was arrested after the agency’s officials performed urine tests on pilots and flight crew members at Lombok International Airport (LIA) on Wednesday.
“We checked pilots and crew members of airline companies at the airport yesterday. One of pilots we examined tested positive for narcotics,” said Sukisto as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.
The BNN officers later searched RS’ belongings and they claim to have found marijuana weighing 5.03 grams hidden inside his suitcase.
During an interrogation, Sukisto claimed, RS told officers he got the narcotics from Bali. The BNN NTB detained the pilot and handed him over to the agency’s headquarters in Jakarta.
Sukisto said that with the finding, the anti-drug agency would give special attention to potential drug abuse among airline crew members and tighten monitoring. BNN had prepared urine tests for operators of land, sea and air transportation services to be conducted ahead of and after this year’s Idul Fitri exodus.
“We’d like to guarantee all passengers could get to their home towns safely during the Idul Fitri holidays,” Sukito said. (kuk/ebf)
