July was a hot month this year for foreigners trying (and failing) to smuggle drugs into Bali.
Three foreigners were arrested in Bali for three separate cases of bringing drugs onto the island over the course of July 2018, including a Dutchman, a Chilean national, and a British citizen.
Head of the regional office of Customs and Excise Syarif Hidayat laid out the three cases for the media at a press conference in Bali on Wednesday.
The first arrest was made when Dutchman Barth Hafkam, 24, landed in Denpasar from Kuala Lumpur on July 1. An x-ray examination led customs officers to uncover seven gray square tablets, weighing 2.63 grams. The tablets were found to contain MDMA.
Then on, July 12, customs officers arrested 34-year-old Chilean national, Victor Ortegarocha, according to Hidayat.
“The Chilean perpetrator is an architect. The person in question came in from Kuala Lumpur,” Hidayat said, as quoted by Suara.
As with the Dutchman, an x-ray examination piqued customs officers’ suspicions. In the Chilean’s backpack, a package with the label “The Bulldog Seeds” was found to contain three grams of cannabis seeds (five seeds total) and a brochure that read “blueberry 420”, Hidayat said.
Then finally, a British photographer, Zaid Thanoon, 26, was arrested on July 13 when flying in to Bali from Bangkok.
After passing through the x-ray, customs continued to thoroughly examine Thanoon. Inside a package of cigarettes, officers uncovered pieces of tobacco and a plastic encasing containing 3.55 grams of marijuana.
At the press conference on Wednesday, only the Chilean and British perpetrators were paraded in balaclavas by Indonesian police.
“For the Dutch citizen, his case is still be investigated by the Bali Regional Police,” Hidayat said.
Meanwhile, the Chilean and British men have been handed over to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Bali Province division.
BNN Bali investigator Insp. Anak Agung Ngurah Parwata says the three foreigners are subject to charges under Indonesia’s anti-narcotics law that carry a minimum sentence of five years and maximum penalty of 15 years, with a minimum fine of IDR1 billion (US$69k) and a max of IDR10 billion (US$690k).
