Indonesian police show journalists two pounds of crystal methamphetamine seized at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2012. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)
Jakarta. Police accused three inmates serving drug sentences of running a smuggling ring from prison after customs officers detained six alleged meth smugglers at airports in Java.
“The arrests were made in Cengkareng, Pasar Minggu [Jakarta] and Salatiga [Central Java],” National Police drug division head Brig. Gen. Arman Depari said on Thursday. “We arrested six people and seized 4.3 kilogram of crystal meth.”
Police said the meth was hidden in spools of thread and spare airplane parts.
The arrested suspects told police that they worked for a syndicate run by three prisoners in Cipinang and Nusa Kambangan prisons.
“The result of the investigation of drug smuggling and trafficking by this network shows that it was controlled by three inmates,” Arman said. “Two of them, with the initial B.C. and R., are prisoners at Cipinang prison, while the other inmate, U.U.P., is inmate in Nusakambangan.”
Police said that the three prisoners were already serving sentences from drug crimes but did not reveal any further information.
Arman said that the inmates used mobile phones to coordinate smuggling operations in Solo, Central Java, Surabaya, East Java, and in West Kalimantan.
All nine suspects were charged under Indonesia’s 2009 Narcotics Law. Sentences range from four years in prison to death.
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport customs head Okto Irianto said on Thursday that attempts to smuggle meth have risen in the past few months.
In the first five months of the year, he said, 40 meth smugglers had been caught in the airport, with a total of 40 kilograms of the drug confiscated.
“In a week, there are at least two cases of drug smuggling that we exposed, with evidence of crystal meth averaging one kilogram in each case,” he said. “There is a lot of passengers. Currently there are between 9,000 and 10,000 international flights every day, while the number of terminals has grown [with the addition of a third terminal].”
Indonesian prisons, especially Cipinang, have a long history of harboring drug syndicates.
In February, two Cipinang inmates were arrested after guards discovered meth-making accoutrements in the prisoners’ possession.
In August of last year, a similar find led to the arrest of 10 people, including inmates and prison officers – all of whom were later named suspects.
Freddy Budiman, already serving a drug sentence at Cipinang, was given a death sentence in July 2013 after he was found 0perating an ecstasy ring from inside the prison.
By SP/Fana FS Putra on 06:03 pm Jun 13, 2014
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