POLICE ARREST THREE, SEIZE 150 KGS OF MARIJUANA IN RAID

JAKARTA - Police seized 150 kilograms of marijuana, worth about Rp
2.25 billion (US$321,000), from three suspected drug traffickers in a
single raid in Bogor early Wednesday morning, the city police
detectives chief said.

Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said the suspects were identified as Irfan
Imam, 34, a tow-truck driver, Asnawi, 32, a driver and Azhar, 25, a
businessman. All are residents of Cimanggis subdistrict in Bogor regency.

"We got the information from local (Cimanggis) residents, who
complained about a truck making noises at 9 p.m. on Tuesday," Alex
told reporters on Wednesday.

He said the truck was parked in front of Asnawi's rented house in Tugu
area, Cimanggis subdistrict. "Asnawi was unloading goods from the
truck and brought them into his house."

He said police immediately went to the site and caught Asnawi, who
then let them search the house.

"Asnawi was quite helpful and asked the officer to follow him to a
room on the second floor," Alex said.

"Upon reaching the second floor, Asnawi suddenly jumped from upstairs
to the ground, where he fled but was later captured by residents."

Alex said police then searched the first floor, where they found 10
huge baskets of mangoes.

"The mangoes, however, were put on the top layers only. Below, police
found 21 huge packages containing marijuana, which weighed 150
kilograms," he said.

The seizure was the police's second-largest haul this year, after
detectives seized 245 kilograms of marijuana in July from an Aceh
university student when he arrived with two friends from Aceh.

During preliminary questioning, Asnawi confessed that he was a hired
driver who brought marijuana here from a farm in Aceh.

"Asnawi admitted that the mangoes were to fool police officers into
believing that he was a fruit seller," Alex said, adding that Asnawi
received help from Irfan and Azhar.

Watchdog

Separately, a senior customs officer suggested the central government
to immediately set up an independent watchdog to keep an eye on the
legal process of any drugs-related suspects in the country.

"It's an urgent matter to establish an independent body in a bid to
stop drug traffickers from smuggling narcotics to Indonesia," Tonny
Soenanto, head of the customs office at the Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport told reporters on Wednesday.

He said he was worried about the growing drug consumption among
Jakarta's students, including elementary school children.

But Tonny's real concerns could have stemmed from the fact that
several drugs-related suspects, including those caught by customs
officers, have reportedly walked out of cells at police stations or
prosecutor's office for unknown reasons.

Such case conclusions have been reported in other criminal cases. Also
it has reportedly become common that evidence for criminal cases has
been found missing or partly lost. Many law enforcement officers have
become frustrated at this.

Quarantine officers at the airport once questioned the whereabouts of
two rare black cockatoos seized from a foreigner who was about to
smuggle the protected birds overseas.

The expensive birds were reportedly taken by a senior detective
officer at city police who said that the cockatoos were "needed" for
evidence in the case.

Similar stories have also been told regarding drug related
cases.

According to Tonny, the customs officers at the airport's
international terminal have foiled at least nine smuggling attempts of
drugs into the country in the first eight months of this year.

Evidence seized during the arrests consists of eight kilograms of
heroin, 27 kilograms of shabu-shabu (a crystal metamphetamine), 49,020
ecstasy pills and 42 grams of cocaine.

He admitted that there must be a much larger amount of drugs that do
pass the custom's check point during the same period.

"So far this year we have only had routine custom checks," Tonny
explained.

The airport's customs officers on Tuesday arrested a 28-year-old Thai
woman for attempting to smuggle 1.75 kilograms of pure heroin into the
country.

Khanchana Thiangtum was apprehended shortly after the customs officers
discovered the heroin -- which had a total street value of Rp 700
million (US$92,000) -- hidden in the sides of her travel bag.

The Thai national claimed to have no idea about the owner of the
drugs. She said she was hired to bring the heroin to a hotel in
Matraman, Central Jakarta, for which she was paid $2,000.