Iranian arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs

Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 02/17/2011

The Jakarta Police arrested Thursday an Iranian for allegedly smuggling crystal methamphetamine, locally known as sabu, to Indonesia and Japan.

According to Jakarta Police’s Director for Drugs Resort Sr. Comr. Anjan Pramuka Putra, the police caught the suspect undercover, engaging in a transaction at a hotel on Sunday. The suspect, whose initials are M.R.A., demanded that the undercover officer showed US$40,000 to pay for the drugs.

“After we showed the money, the suspect showed the drugs. That’s when officers caught M.R.A. red-handed with 400 grams of sabu as evidence,” he said.

“This Iranian national acts as a stock keeper because nobody else is carrying [the drugs]. M.R.A. also takes sabu to Japan, thus making us refer to [the suspect] as being part of an international network,” Anjan said.

He added that M.R.A. was unrelated to other Iranian nationals previously arrested for drug-related causes.

The police also caught two other suspects, whose identities have not been revealed, separately from M.R.A. 

All three have been charged with the 2009 Drug Law, with the maximum sentence being death.