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Jakarta Post

Customs and excise office thwarts gorilla tobacco, ‘sabu’ smuggling attempts

Inforial (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, April 23, 2022 Published on Apr. 23, 2022 Published on 2022-04-23T15:58:14+07:00

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The illegal trafficking and abuse of drugs are pressing issues in Indonesia that call for urgent and concrete preventative actions.

These illicit activities, frequently called the underground economy, will not only endanger people’s safety but also causes financial losses to the state in the form of social, economic and security disruptions.

In response to this, the Customs and Excise Directorate General, whose major roles include protecting the people and supporting the economy effectively, continually strives to foil narcotics trafficking attempts across the country.

Most recently, in Semarang, Central Java, and Batam, Riau Islands, it successfully uncovered two drug-smuggling operations and secured supplies of gorilla tobacco and sabu-sabu (crystal methamphetamine) before they could be sold.

The Customs and Excise Directorate General’s head of public relations and customs counseling subdirectorate, Hatta Wardhana, revealed that on April 19, the Semarang Customs Office and the local police’s narcotics division received intelligence on the shipment of goods using an expedition service company believed to contain narcotics, psychotropics and precursor (NPP).

To follow up on the information, a combined team intensely monitored the movement of the package until it reached Ungaran in Semarang.

“Witnessed by employees of the expedition service company, the package was checked and the officer found that the package contained 15.7 grams of leaves that looked to be synthetic tobacco [gorilla tobacco],” Hatta said.

“Then, the combined team engaged in a controlled delivery by delivering the package to a house lived in by HMS, who faces charges for violating Law No. 35/2009 on narcotics. We took the suspects and evidence to the Semarang Police’s Narcotics Division.”

Earlier, on April 7, the Batam Customs Office successfully foiled at Hang Nadim International Airport the smuggling attempt of sabu that was reportedly being transported inside the bodies of three travelers.

Hatta said the Batam Customs Office had received a tip from an airplane passenger. The officers rushed to arrest the three suspects identified as BA, 22, ZA, 25 and Z, 25.

The three underwent a urine test and tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine.

They were then taken to a hospital for an X-ray, which revealed the packets of sabu inside their rectum. A total of 811.3 grams of sabu were eventually removed.

The suspects were then transported to the Riau Islands Police for further investigation.

“Currently, narcotics-related crimes remain a big threat to the Indonesian people. As an institution tasked to enforce Presidential Instruction No. 2/2020 and carry out national action plans for the eradication of the abuse and trafficking of illicit substances (P4GN) for the 2020-2024 period, the Customs and Excise Directorate General continues to cope with the issue of drug abuse and call on the public to report any activity indicating drug smuggling to us or other legal enforcers,” Hatta said.

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