Photo illustration: X-ray of a drug mule
Even with all of the news about the upcoming executions of Bali Nine drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the deterrent power of the death penalty is not preventing more people to risk their lives transporting illegal narcotics into Indonesia.
The latest example of that is a 33-year-old Kenyan woman, whom police are identifying as OS, who was arrested upon her arrival at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta on Tuesday. Police found OS had tried to smuggle 62 capsules, containing about 654 grams of methamphetamines, inside of her body.
Police say OS would have been paid US$3,500 (or approximately Rp 46.2 million) for completing the smuggling job. She had flown to Jakarta from Nairobi via Doha and Hong Kong.
“OS works at a beauty salon in her country. She’s a college graduate,” said the deputy chief of airport’s police narcotics unit, Commissioner Subekti, as quoted by Tempo today.
OS initially became involved in the drug smuggling operation after getting the job from a Nigerian man identified as S, who told her to swallow 70 drug capsules, two of which she passed at a toilet in Hong Kong.
S was in contact with another Nigerian man, identified as JP, who had been living in Jakarta for several month and worked as a textile merchant in Tanah Abang. JP had an Indonesian girlfriend identified as IM, a 39-year-old widow.
JP and S arranged for OS to bring the drugs into Indonesia and deliver them to IM. After OS was arrested by police, she told them who her contact person was and the police set up a sting operation to catch IM at a hotel, where she was also arrested.
Police are still investigating the drug smuggling ring. It is highly likely that OS will face the death penalty for her crime.
