The two suspects, only identified by their initials RM, alias IY (38), and AS (39), were arrested in North Sumatra last January, Director of the National Police Criminal Investigation Department`s Narcotics Division Brig. Gen. Eko Daniyanto said here on Monday.
The suspects have blood ties, and the involvement of siblings in a drug ring is aimed at maintaining secrecy of their networks, so that the police investigations do easily disclose the case, he noted.
The success in thwarting the suspects` attempt to smuggle the drugs from Malaysia into the coastal city of Tanjung Balai in North Sumatra could be made after the police were tipped off that there would be a drug smuggling operation in the province.
The police officers then conducted a thorough investigation for a month before launching a raid and arrested RM alias IY at his residential house in Teluk Nibung area, Tanjung Balai city, on January 27, 2019, he stated.
RM is the owner of a boat used for taking a drug package from another ship in the middle of the sea and transporting the packages to the Labuhan Batu waters, he remarked, adding that RM was accompanied by his friend and his brother, AS, to smuggle the drugs.
AS was nabbed on Jan 29, 2019, while his friend remained fugitive. The drug package that RM loaded into his boat was then concealed in a hole that he buried on a muddy beach.
The suspect buried the drugs packed in a Chinese tea plastic bag on the muddy beach that local residents believed to be a haunted area to make them and the law enforcers not suspicious of him. "After having felt secure, he took the buried drug package," he added.
The suspects are charged with Law No. 35 of 2009 on Narcotics in which they can be sentenced to six up to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment, while the Malaysian citizens who might have supplied the drugs remain fugitive, he added.
Reporting by Anita Permata Dewi
Editing by Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Azizah Fitriyanti
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
