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AKARTA: Customs officers have foiled an attempt to smuggle 205 grams of cocaine worth Rp 1 billion (US$109,000) from Thailand with the arrest of a Dutch national at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Oza Olivia, customs office chief at the airport, identified the suspect as Rendert Leopold, 41, who has lived and worked as a garment designer in Kuta, Bali, for 10 years.

She said that Rendert arrived from Bangkok with Thai Airways flight TG-433 on April 4 and was acting suspiciously. “The officers then conducted a body search on the suspect. Since nothing suspicious was found, officers then decided to hold an X-ray test and found strange objects hidden in his belly,” she said.

Following the test, officers then told the suspect to remove the objects through defecation. “It took 10 hours until we had four capsules containing 50 grams of brown powder from the suspect’s stomach,” Oza said.

Gatot Sugeng Wibowo, head of customs intelligence, said that officers tried to help the suspect remove the capsules by consuming a laxative, but he refused.

 “He was so scared the capsules would break inside and would kill him. Laboratory tests confirmed that the brown powder was cocaine,” Gatot said, adding that the suspect claimed that the cocaine was for his own consumption.