Indonesia: Veiled Iranian Women Suspected Of Smuggling $12.5M Worth Of Methamphetamines

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A group of 10 alleged Iranian drug smugglers, including eight veiled women, were caught with $12.5 million worth of methamphetamines at Indonesia's main airport, the customs chief said Wednesday.

The group was picked up at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport with 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of crystal methamphetamine and 5 gallons (23 liters) of the drug in liquid form, said customs chief Anwar Suprijadi.

It is the largest drug bust in the airport's history, he said, describing how the group had arrived on flights from Malaysia, Syria and Qatar on Monday and Tuesday.

Indonesian authorities have never seen veiled women used as drug runners, he said. The drugs, wrapped in plastic food containers and cleaning fluid bottles, were packed into hand luggage. But the oddly-shaped packages were picked out by officers operating scanners.

"We believe they are part of an international syndicate," he said. By wearing conservative Islamic clothing the women tried to "fool officers in a country like Indonesia, where women in black veils are generally considered to be good women."

Nine suspects were paraded in front of the media at an airport detention facility Wednesday, while a tenth is said to have attempted suicide and was in a hospital. A 26-year-old man, who allegedly carried the liquid drug from Doha, tried to sever an artery with a razor blade.

Police said they were trying to uncover a possible link to the arrest on Monday of another Iranian and an American in raids that netted more than 12 pounds (5.6 kilograms) of methamphetamines at an apartment and a hotel room in the nearby capital.

Deputy chief of investigations Dikdik Maulana Mansyur estimated the seizure was worth $950,000. He said the 35-year-old American, who posed as a tourist to make deliveries to local hotels, faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.

The Iranian, 40, has a previous drug conviction from 2002 and can expect a tougher sentence, he said.

Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and traffickers are regularly sentenced to death. By the end of 2008, about 140 people were on death row, including more than 40 foreigners, most of them for drug-related crimes.

Customs offices across Indonesia, a vast Muslim-majority nation of 235 million people, were warned to be on the lookout for other possible smuggling attempts. Poor law enforcement, corruption and high demand make Indonesia an attractive location for drug producers.

Comments

[bettyx1138]

i wonder if they'll be hanged or beheaded or buried up to their head and stoned to death for doing it?

[realitytrumpsbull]

Always Iran, always Iran...they say that now, Iran has this huge problem with heroin use on the rise. Doesn't anyone show up to work sober, anymore?

There was another story where a Chinese businessman got arrested for smuggling TONS of meth chemicals. Let's hear it for global (drug) trade. But, it's nothing new, if you've read any Clavell books, and presuming that any of them are even halfway accurate, well, the opium trade at least has been around for ages.

What should the government/the People do about drugs? Accept it as a fact of life, and stop creating jobs for international smugglers, and focus on public education, instead?

And, further, what about the LARGEST global drug dealers, the pharmaceutical companies themselves? Again, doesn't anyone show up for work sober, anymore?

[GeorgeP922]

So sad to see years later, the poor coutries trying to fall in America's footsteps are now murdering drug runners.

Could you imagine if America had FORTY foreign nationals on death row?

[wereeverywhere]

"We believe they are part of an international syndicate," he said. By wearing conservative Islamic clothing the women tried to "fool officers in a country like Indonesia, where women in black veils are generally considered to be good women."

I remember when hate radio in America called for racial profiling of 'muslim-types' at airports because after all, their logic went, it wasn't elderly Irish nuns who were terrorists. Here we have a sort of reverse example of why racism/ religious bigotry is just so damned stupid.

[MosheDayanHero]

How DARE customs officer kufrs look under that sacred veil and infringe upon these womenfolk's sacred right to be packaged as merchandise.

[Mollabaji]

They deserve death sentences if convicted as it is the law in Indonesia. Drug smugglers come from different countries and in different shapes.

[MosheDayanHero]

Agreed they come in different shapes and sizes. I dunno about de.ath sentence for this.
I am not opposed to the capital punishment, but it seems most transgressions in I-slami countries end up with beheading, stoning or hanging.

[Mollabaji]

Only dummies, and those who comment without reading the report would not know that the drugs were concealed in the passengers' HANDBAGS. Got it?

[blutigeroo]

I have travelled to many Muslim countries (unfortunately not Indonesia), and all the frisking, body searches etc of women is done by female customs officers.
Indonesia has VERY tough laws regarding drug smuggling, death sentences are possible.

[bismillah001]

How DARE you comment on this story without even reading it.

God, Twain is so timeless...