A Malaysian pilot from a foreign airline, identified only by the initials MSO, was arrested by a joint team from the Indonesian National Police Criminal Investigation Agency and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Customs after allegedly being caught carrying narcotics in the form of ecstasy and methamphetamine.
The Director of Narcotics Crimes at the Indonesian National Police Criminal Investigation Agency, Brigadier General Eko Hadi Santoso, stated that MSO’s arrest began with a security check upon his arrival at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Tuesday, the 28th of July, at around 11:30 PM Jakarta time.
“On the X-ray system that was observing the international passenger, customs officers spotted a suspicious suitcase. The suitcase was then taken by its owner, MSO, a pilot for a foreign airline,” Santoso said in a written statement on Friday, the 31st of July.
Santoso explained that the inspection uncovered 70,114 ecstasy pills weighing approximately 25 kilograms. In addition, a package of methamphetamine weighing 2.7 grams was found in the suitcase. The suspect later confessed to receiving instructions from a Malaysian drug dealer to transport the narcotics to Jakarta in exchange for a reward of 50,000 Malaysian ringgit.
“During the inspection, the team found 14 large packages of ecstasy and 1 package of crystal methamphetamine,” he explained.
In addition to allegedly smuggling drugs, MSO was also found to have used three types of drugs before flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
“The methamphetamine was used by himself. And yesterday’s urine test came back positive for methamphetamine, XTC, and marijuana. So, at the time of the flight, he was using drugs,” Hengky Tomuan, Head of Customs and Excise at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, said on Friday.
Moreover, according to Senior Commissioner Awaluddin Amin, Head of Sub-Directorate II of the Narcotics Crime Directorate at the Indonesian National Police Criminal Investigation Agency, the urine test results were based on police medical records obtained during the initial investigation. On the previous flight, MSO had been carrying hundreds of passengers.
“The person in question’s urine test contained three substances. The first was MDMA, the second was methamphetamine, and the third was cocaine. That’s clear, according to the medical doctor who conducted the urine test,” the Senior Commissioner added.
Based on these findings, the Indonesian authorities strongly suspect that MSO was involved in an international drug trafficking network. Furthermore, police interrogation and the ongoing investigation revealed that MSO had previously smuggled ecstasy into Indonesia on three occasions. As of this writing, the name of the foreign airline where MSO works as a pilot has not yet been publicly disclosed.