JAKARTA, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Indonesian authorities seized 1.16 tons of ketamine on a Mongolian-flagged vessel from Malaysia in the waters of North Sumatra province earlier this week, the country’s national police chief Suyudi Ario Seto said on Friday.
• Indonesian authorities, including the police and the customs office, apprehended the tanker in the waters of Tanjung Balai off the province earlier this week, Seto said
• They arrested seven Indonesians and one Taiwanese national, Seto said, including the captain, engineers, and an oiler
• The ketamine was found in 58 sacks weighing 1.16 tons, Seto said
• He said the street value of the haul amounted to 3.48 trillion rupiah ($192.64 million)
• The tanker departed from Pasir Gudang in Malaysia, transited through the Malacca Strait and headed to the Andaman Sea, where authorities believe it conducted a ship-to-ship transfer to receive the ketamine
• Authorities had noticed “anomalies” in the vessel’s Automatic Identification System before apprehending it, Seto said
• The amount of drugs proved how destructive “international syndicates are to our national security”, he added
• Later on Friday, Seto said authorities in the Indonesian province of Aceh found 1.2 tons of methamphetamine worth around 2.16 trillion rupiah in a “clandestine” laboratory
• Indonesia has strict drug laws and in 2015 executed two Australians in the “Bali Nine” drug ring for attempting to smuggle heroin out of the resort island of Bali
($1 = 18,065 rupiah)
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by David Stanway)
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