VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency (BNN) recently foiled the attempts of four drug couriers to transport 53.05 kilograms (kg) of crystal methamphetamine, including 42.43 kg believed to have been smuggled from Malaysia.

BNN confirmed that the 42.43 kg of cystal meth were confiscated from three men, only identified by their initials as Al, As, and D, in the waters of Makassar Strait of Donggala District, Central Sulawesi Province, on January 10, 2021.

"The first drug trafficking operation was foiled by the BNN in collaboration with the customs and excise office," BNN Chief Com. Gen. Petrus Reinhard Golose was quoted by ANTARA as saying here, Thursday.

BNN officers stopped a motorboat in the waters of Makassar Strait and found three plastic sacks containing 40 bags, with 42.43 kilograms of crystal meth, he remarked.

Al, As, and D, who had got the crystal meth package from Malaysia, were arrested by the officers. The suspects and their evidence of drug crime were taken to the BNN headquarters for further investigation, Golose revealed.

Two days after the BNN and customs and excise office were successful in foiling the drug trafficking operation in Central Sulawesi, the agency's officers in Jakarta also managed to seize 10.62 kg of crystal meth.

During a drug raid operation conducted in the Kapuk Muara neighborhood, North Jakarta, on January 12, 2021, the team arrested J alias Okd, a drug courier of a Bagansiapiapi-Jakarta drug syndicate.

When the suspect was arrested at the Kapuk Muara apartment's parking area, J carried six biscuit-covered packs of crystal meth weighing 6.34 kg.

The BNN officers then found another 4.83 kg of crystal meth hidden inside four biscuit-covered packs and two plastic clips when they raided J's flat, he remarked.

J received the illicit drug package from someone in Bagansiapiapi, Riau Province, Golose remarked, adding that he commended his men's crackdown on the drug couriers.

The BNN has charged the four suspects for violating several articles of Indonesia's drug law that carries a death penalty.

"The BNN is committed to combating drug rings to save the future of young Indonesians," he affirmed. (Antaranews)