M’sian nabbed in Jakarta bust

JAKARTA: Indonesian police believe they have crippled an international syndicate that uses mineral water bottles to smuggle drugs into the republic.

The workings of the syndicate were uncovered by authorities following the arrest of five members, including a Malaysian woman, at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Oct 13 and 14.

Online media quoted the airport’s deputy police chief Risnanto as saying a Malaysian woman had been detained by Customs on Oct 13 after she was observed to be acting suspiciously.

He said upon inspecting the woman’s luggage, two bottles of mineral water packed neatly in a box was found. A test on the mineral water revealed it contained 3.16kg of liquid methamphetamine.

The day after the Malaysian woman’s arrest, police and Customs detained two Indonesian women who had landed at the same airport from Hong Kong and seized 12 mineral water bottles packed in a box.

A test on the water found it contained 18.9kg of liquid methamphetamine.

Each bottle could fill 1.5l of mineral water and if the liquid methamphetamine in all 14 bottles is heated, it can produce syabu powder weighing 22kg, said Risnanto.

He said police also detained two other syndicate members – a Pakistani and an Indonesian – who acted as receiver and handler respectively, at the airport. – Bernama