Two Indonesian nationals were arrested at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport on Saturday (9/3) after officers from the Provincial National Narcotics Agency (BNNP) discovered 1,008 grams of meth hidden inside their sandals.
The pair, identified as 23-year old student Muhammad Ikhsan and laborer M Dani, 28, traveled to Bali from Medan in North Sumatra on a Lion Air flight on Saturday afternoon.
Working on a tip-off, BNNP officers searched the duo on arrival at the Bali airport, seizing more than 1,008 grams of meth from the left and right soles of the two combined.
“Their modus operandi is to hide the methamphetamine inside their sandals and go on as usual, stepping on it,” said Putu Gede Suastawa of the BNNP yesterday, as quoted by detiknews.
Further investigations led to the Puri Nusantara Hotel in Tuban where I Putu Mas Wira Adi Kusuma was arrested on suspicion of being the Bali distributor. Officers from the BNNP managed to seize 105 ecstasy pills among Kusuma’s belongings. Suastawa said that the three were part of a Medan-based network distributing narcotics into Bali.
Ikhsan and Dani claimed to have been promised a fee of IDR50 million (US$3,502) each for carrying the illegal substances from their hometown of Aceh in North Sumatra to Bali. Meanwhile, Kusuma told officers that he received a wage of IDR10 million (US$700) for taking drugs that had just arrived from Aceh.
All three were charged with article 112 paragraph (1) of Law No. 35 of 2009 concerning narcotics and face the threat of 20 years in prison.
Reader Interactions