Soetta Airport Customs Thwarts 140 Thousand Ecstasy Points From The Netherlands, Here's A Chronological Series

Cargo suspected of containing ecstasy pills from the Netherlands/ Photo: IST

TANGERANG - The Soekarno-Hatta Customs Joint Team together with the Directorate of Drug Crimes at the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency succeeded in thwarting an attempt to smuggle 140,000 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands through Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

Head of the Soekarno Hatta Customs Office, Gatot Sugeng Wibowo, said that in the disclosure of the hundreds of thousands of ecstasy items, a total of 10 perpetrators were arrested. The arrests were from May 20 to June 10, 2023.

"That's right, ten suspects were arrested. In total there were 140,000 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands," said Gatot in his statement, Monday, July 3.

Gatot explained that the first disclosure occurred on May 20, 2023. The incident began with suspicion by his party when he suspected that imported cargo was being sent by a company in the Netherlands for individual purposes in Jakarta.

Furthermore, his party conducted an X-ray examination, as a result, four packs of cat food were found which were hidden in two packages of plastic berisi green pills each with a total of 40,000 pills.

"After testing using narcotics and Lab Tests, it was found that the green pill was positive for MDMA or better known as Ecstasy," he said.

On that basis, his party coordinated with the Directorate of Narcotics Interdiction DJBC and Sub-Directorate 1 of the Narcotics Dittipid Bareskrim Polri to develop cases so that five people were successfully secured in the Jakarta and Bogor areas. The five suspects had the initials TS, YA, AG, IJ, and UK.

"Based on the suspect's statement, information was obtained about other ecstasy shipments from Brazil to Bali," he said.

Based on this information, continued Gatot, his party again carried out an in-depth investigation until finally succeeded in thwarting the second attempt to smuggle ecstasy on June 20, 2023. The disclosure began with an in-depth examination of imported cargo from Brazil sent by a company in the Netherlands on the GRU'AMS 'Sin' CGK route with the aim of a company in Jakarta.

"It's true, from the results of Xray and the examination, six packages were found consisting of 3 packs of orange pills and 3 packs of blue pills with a total of 50,000 pills hidden in a package containing rice (false conference)," he said.

"Officers then carried out laboratory testing of the pills and found a positive result of MDMA or Ecstasy," he continued.

Then, Customs and Excise again revealed the smuggling of Ekatasi for the third time. The incident occurred June 21, 2023.

Gatot said that in the Ecstasy Disclosure, his party detected Import Cargo Goods sent by companies in the Netherlands with the AMS 'Sin' CGK route suspected of containing narcotics.

So that his party conducted an examination with Xray equipment, as a result, it was found that eight packs of pills were red and blue with a total of 50,000 grains hidden in the packaging of animal food.

Then, the officers also conducted laboratory tests on the pills and found a positive result of MDMA or Ecstasy.

On that basis, his party coordinated with the Directorate of Narcotics Interdiction DJBC and Sub-Directorate 1 of the Narcotics Dittipid Bareskrim Polri. As a result, five suspects were arrested.

"Five suspects were arrested with the initials JK, P, BW, DA, and DM on the island of Bali," he said.

The ten suspects were charged with Law No. 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics with a maximum threat of the death penalty or life imprisonment.