Tanjungbalai, N Sumatra (ANTARA News) - A former police officer was among four people arrested on Thursday for allegedly carrying 7 kilograms of crystal meth from Tanjungbalai to Medan, North Sumatra.

The arrests came after the vehicle carrying the contraband rammed into a truck with police personnel in hot pursuit firing shots at it, chief of the Asahan district police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Tatan Dirsan said here on Friday.

"The four were arrested in front of the Asahan district police station on Thursday (January 26) at around 09:00 p.m. when they were traveling along the Sumatra trans-highway en route to Medan," he said.

The four suspects, identified by their initials as BTB, A, E and A, were arrested after the district police received information from the West Jakarta police about an impending attempt to smuggle narcotics to Medan via Tanjungbalai. The bid to smuggle the contraband was part of the Malaysia-Medan-Jakarta drug chain.

The narcotic unit of the West Jakarta police, in cooperation with the drugs detective unit of the North Sumatra provincial police and the Asahan district police, has been conducting an investigation in Tanjungbalai for the last few days before the latest arrests.

The police made the arrest after its personnel followed an Avanza minivan suspected of carrying the contraband from Tanjungbalai.

When the vehicle was traveling along the highway, the police tried to stop it. However, the minivan tried to flee at a high speed and was chased.

"After the police fired several shots, the minivan stopped but not before it rammed into a truck," he added.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017