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aw enforcement officers in Medan and Surabaya intercepted two separate attempts to smuggle drugs into the country

In Medan, North Sumatra, Customs and Excise officers arrested on Monday a Royal Malaysian Police officer, Salim bin Muhammad Yusof, 49, for carrying 0.5 gram of crystal methamphetamine (locally known as shabu-shabu) upon arrival at Polonia International Airport from Kuala Lumpur.

Customs officers handed over the Malaysian lance corporal to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) in Jakarta on Tuesday, head of enforcement and investigation at the Polonia Customs Office, Ahmad Fatoni, said on Tuesday.

This is the first Polonia customs officers have arrested a Malaysian police officer implicated in drug smuggling activities. The officers suspicions were aroused by the suspect's behavior.

The Malaysian consul general in Medan, Nor Azhar Hajis, expressed his disappointment with the Indonesian authorities for not notifying him of the arrest before the information was released to the media. He declined to comment further on the matter.

Parlindungan Purba from the Regional Representative Council (DPD) in North Sumatra, said the incident proved that the Malaysian government was not serious in clamping down drugs smuggling into Indonesia.

In Sidarjo, East Java, the customs narcotics team intercepted on Saturday a shipment of shabu-shabu weighing 927.72 grams with a street value of Rp 1.8 billion (US$184,480) sent from Mumbai, India, through the Juanda Post Office at Juanda International Airport.

Juanda Customs and Excise Office chief, Iwan Hermawan, said on Tuesday that the drugs were hidden in a package containing 18 leather handbag straps; the narcotics were discovered as a result of the consignment being scanned.

'The drugs were sent by a man identified as J in Mumbai to H in Probolinggo, East Java,' he said.

Meanwhile, Adj. Sr. Comr. Sudirman from the East Java Police Narcotics Directorate said that he would cooperate with Interpol to trace the increasing trend of drug shipments from India.

Customs and narcotics police officers in West Java also foiled an attempt to smuggle 215 grams of shabu-shabu on Saturday, which was packed inside a golf set that was sent through the post.

The drugs was sent to an address in Citapen, West Bandung regency, West Java. Initial investigations uncovered that the delivery was bound for the Banceuy Penitentiary in Bandung city and involved a Nigerian inmate.

On May 8, the customs narcotics team in Juanda confiscated 6.6 kilograms of shabu-shabu worth some Rp 13 billion carried by Singaporean Abdul Wahab who had just arrived from New Delhi via Singapore.