"The drugs were wrapped in 10 sacks. The amount of the seized crystal methamphetamine has yet to be calculated. However, it is estimated to be hundreds of kilograms," South Kalimantan Police's Narcotics Detective Director Senior Commissioner Iwan Eka Putra stated here on Thursday.
The police arrested two drug traffickers at a parking lot of the Sienna Inn Hotel in Banjarmasin on Thursday morning.
The suspects were under the police’s radar since they were in North Kalimantan after a tip-off was received on a plan to smuggle a big consignment of methamphetamine.
"South Kalimantan is indeed the target for the circulation of drugs. Later, the Police chief will elaborate on it during a more detailed press release," Iwan Eka Putra, who led the arrest along with Deputy Director of the South Kalimantan Police’s Narcotics Detective Adjunct Senior Commissioner (AKBP) Budi Hermanto and AKBP Ugeng Sudia Permana, stated.
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In the meantime, a joint team of the Aceh Regional Police and Customs and Excise Office seized 33 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine smuggled into Aceh from Malaysia and arrested four suspects.
The four suspects were members of an international drug syndicate, Deputy Chief of the Aceh Police Brigadier General Raden Purwadi had revealed in Aceh on Monday in the company of Head of the Aceh Customs Office Safuadi.
"The four suspects were arrested in North Aceh, and (the police) seized 33 tea packages containing crystal methamphetamine from them. Each packet contains one kilogram of meth," he stated.
The four drug traffickers, identified by their initials as IR (43), SB (47), IY (39), and FR (29), were the residents of East Aceh District.
The police made the arrests following a tip-off received of illicit drug transactions in North Aceh. The joint team acted expeditiously on the received information and apprehended IR, SB, and IY in the Syamtalira area, North Aceh, on Sunday (July 19) at around 20:30 local time.
Most illicit drugs smuggled into Indonesia come from China, and Malaysia is used as a transit country from where the drug smuggling is usually conducted aboard boats into Indonesian waters.
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Translator: Firman, Fardah
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
