Crystal meth worth $82,000 seized at airport

TANGERANG, Indonesia - Customs officers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have foiled an attempt to smuggle 300 grams of crystal methamphetamine, worth Rp 600 million (S$82,200), into the country.

 The drugs were shipped from the African nation of Togo and hidden inside car headlamps.

"The drugs were sent in a package from Togo to an address in South Jakarta on April 17," the head of the airport's custom office, Oza Olivia, said on Monday.

Oza said hiding crystal meth inside car headlamps was a quite new method, adding that the crystal meth was sent by a man identified as Phillip Akakpossa.

She said besides the crystal meth, the authorities had also arrested three Indonesians as suspects in the smuggling case. The suspects were identified as Irfan, 41, who works as a motorcycle taxi driver, Naga, 43, and his wife Sella, 40, an alleged drug dealer.

Commenting on this, Dwiyanto Soemirat from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) said since January, BNN had foiled 16 drug smuggling attempts through the airport and seized drugs worth a total of Rp 9 billion, comprising 3.749 kilograms of crystal meth, 536 grams of levometorfan, 628 grams of cocaine and 341 ecstasy pills.

Officers have also arrested 20 Indonesians, a Malaysian and a Sierra Leonean as suspects in these smuggling cases.