JAKARTA - The National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo revealed that 1,196 tons of methamphetamine, which was secured in Pangandaran Regency, West Java, was the result of a trafficker transaction in the middle of the sea.
"When the four perpetrators transferred from the boat to the car, we took them into custody," said Listyo at the Soreang Police Intelligence Education Center, Bandung Regency, West Java, Thursday, March 24.
The methamphetamine dealers were suspected of conducting narcotics transactions using the ship-to-ship method in the middle of the sea. Then, the methamphetamine was sent to the coast of Pangandaran by fishing boat, he explained.
From the arrests, Listyo said there were five Afghan nationals who were named as suspects, namely SA (33), HM (41), HH (39), AH (38), and M (20).
Meanwhile, the Director of Narcotics Crime at the National Police, Brigadier General Pol. Krisno H. Siregar said that narcotics smuggling in large quantities mostly uses sea routes.
Although it was revealed in the West Java area, Krisno suspects that the illicit goods will be distributed to other areas, so that the Pangandaran area is suspected to be only a transit location.
"But it is possible to repeat the (smuggling) mode as in previous years through container services," said Krisno.
It is not the first time that methamphetamine smuggling from international networks has been discovered in Pangandaran. In 2012 and 2020, the police also thwarted attempts to smuggle crystal methamphetamine on the southern coast of Sukabumi Regency.
"They are smart, but we have to be smarter like the Chief of Police said. So, I think in West Java, we make this a point that needs attention as an entry point," he said.
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