Acting Head of West Java Regional Customs Bureau Syaefullah Nasution said during a press conference here on Tuesday that the three smugglers were on board an AirAsia aircraft and were arrested at Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung City, West Java, on January 14, 2015.
Nasution explained that of the three smugglers, one was a man and two were women and Indonesian nationals working in Malaysia.
Their suspicious movements on the Kuala Lumpur to Bandung AirAsia flight QZ176, which arrived at 9:25 p.m. local time, led to their arrests.
Customs officers rigorously examined the three passengers and their belongings that consisted of three bags. The officers found wrapped meth crystals hidden inside the bags handles.
"The meth was hidden in each bags handle. A laboratory test has proven it to be methamphetamine," Nasution remarked.
Eight packages of meth crystals, three passports, a cellular phone, and three bags were seized from the three arrested.
According to Nasution, the 763.8 grams of methamphetamine was to be consumed possibly by 3,819 people, assuming that a gram of it would have been taken by five persons.
"It means more people than reported might be drug addicts and that can have negative social impacts on communities," he pointed out.
Customs and BNN are still investigating the case and aim to reveal the drug trafficking rackets operating between the two countries.
The Indonesian government under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has declared stricter law enforcement against drug trafficking by awarding the death penalty to offenders.
On January 18, six drug convicts on death row were simultaneously executed in Cilacap district on Nusakambangan Island and Boyolali district in Central Java after their clemency appeals were rejected by President Jokowi.
The six convicts were Malawi citizen Namaona Denis (48), Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Mareira (53), Nigerian Daniel Enemua (38), Dutch Ang Kim Soei (62), Vietnamese Tran Thi Bich Hanh (37), and Indonesian citizen Rani Andriani or Melisa Aprilia.
(Uu.A060/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A060/A/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
