Four foreigners nabbed for drugs
Multa Fidrus
The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
TANGERANG: Four foreign nationals were arrested last week for allegedly smuggling drugs into the country, customs and excise officers and the police said over the weekend.
Three of the four suspects were arrested soon after their arrival at Soekarno-Hatta airport on Feb. 20. They were identified as Thai nationals Thitirat, 24, and Naksri, 27, and an Englishman, Michael Anthony, 34.
"Our officers considered Thitirat to be acting suspiciously at the customs checkpoint," Eko Darmanto, head of intelligence at the airport's customs and excise office, said.
He said officers found drugs estimated to be worth Rp 2 billion (US$210,000) hidden in a bag Thitirat was carrying.
Eko said interrogation of Thitirat led officers to arrest Naksri and Michael Anthony, who were also at the airport at that time.
Officers seized four small plastic bags containing a total of 515 grams of cocaine from Naksri and Anthony, Eko said.
The police subsequently learned of the alleged receiver's address and arrested another Englishman, identified as John Patrick Gerard, 52, in Cilandak, South Jakarta, late Thursday.
"We confiscated eight grams of cocaine from Gerard," the airport police's drugs chief, Comr. Haryanto, said. -JP