39 000 ecstasy pills seized

2003-05-23 11:14

Jakarta - Indonesian authorities have seized more than 39 000 ecstasy pills allegedly smuggled from Amsterdam by an employee of the state airline Garuda Indonesia, an official said on Friday.

The pills, estimated to be worth about $59 523, were smuggled by a employee of Garuda's office in Amsterdam, said a customs officer at Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta international airport.

The officer, who identified himself only as Dicky, said that two employees of Garuda subsidiaries at Sukarno-Hatta had arranged to pick up the pills.

The pills were placed inside two bags falsely tagged as luggage belonging to a elderly Dutch tourist and his wife who took a Garuda flight via Jakarta from Amsterdam to Medan.

After the couple told customs officials the bags were not theirs, officials found they had been claimed by an employee with Garuda's ground handling firm Angkasa Pura.

Police later arrested a second man who had been implicated by the first man to be arrested.

All three face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of 300 million rupiah if convicted.

Indonesian courts have been increasingly handing out severe sentences, including death, for drug traffickers. The country is rapidly moving from being a mere transit point on international drug smuggling routes to a market in its own right.

- AFX