TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsJoint team seizes 1.3 tonnes of ketamine off Bintan Island
Personnel from the Customs and Excise Directorate General, National Narcotics Agency (BNN), National Police and Navy took part in the interception operation.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
National Narcotics Agency (BNN) head Comr. Gen. Suyudi Ario Seto (left) and acting director of narcotics interdiction at the Customs and Excise Directorate General, Erwin Situmorang, (second left) display packages containing ketamine during a press conference at the Naval Regional Command IV/Batam headquarters in Batam, Riau Islands, on Aug. 9, 2026. (Courtesy of Batam Customs and Excise Office/-)
A
joint operation involving the Customs and Excise Directorate General, National Narcotics Agency (BNN), National Police and Navy prevented the smuggling of 1.3 tonnes of ketamine in Riau Islands following three months of cross-country intelligence surveillance.
Two sea assets, a BC-30005 38-meter fast patrol boat of the Customs service and the Navy’s KRI Kerambit Sampari-class 60-meter fast attack missile craft, intercepted the MV King Sun carrying the drugs in the waters of North Berakit off Bintan Island on Thursday. Eight crewmen, comprising seven Myanmar nationals and a Taiwanese, were arrested in the operation.
The drugs were found in a hidden compartment near the ship’s bridge on Friday, after a search using a sniffer dog.
Some 1,300 packages of ketamine with a total weight of 1,300 kilograms were found hidden in 65 packages of Chinese tea.
Ketamine is a general anesthetic with analgesic and hallucinogenic properties, used medically for anesthesia, depression and pain management.
The acting director of narcotics interdiction at the Customs and Excise Directorate General, Erwin Situmorang, said that the operation began with intelligence from Thai authorities in May. The information was strengthened through analysis of data exchanged with the National Police on the targeted ship’s movements in the Bay of Thailand.
“The success is the result of observation and intelligence analysis over the past three months and supported by inter-agency cooperation and international cooperation,” Erwin said in press release issued by Batam Customs and Excise Office to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
