Two Iranian Nationals Nabbed With 60 Kg of Meth in West Java

The Jakarta Globe, February 27, 2014


Jakarta. Indonesian anti-drug agents arrested two Iranian nationals caught allegedly unearthing 60 kilograms of methamphetamine buried in Sukabumi, West Java, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) said on Thursday.

The agency captured Mostava Moradaviland, 32, and Seiyed Hasheim Mosavipour, 35, at 8:10 a.m. Wednesday morning as the suspected drug traffickers allegedly dug up narcotics buried in the seaside town of Pelabuhan Ratu, Sukabumi, West Java. Both men face the death penalty under Indonesia’s strict anti-drug laws.

The drugs, a large haul of methamphetamine, was reportedly smuggled out of either Iran or Afghanistan and was in transit in Indonesia to be sold in either Australia or New Zealand.

“The BNN made this arrest in cooperation with the United States’ Drug Enforcement Agency [DEA],” Deddy Fauzi Elhakim, the deputy chief of the BNN’s drug eradication division, told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. “Both suspects were arrested as they were digging up the [drugs].”

According to a preliminary investigation, Moradaviland and Mosavipour arrived in Bali on January 28. They traveled to Jakarta the same day and rented an apartment in the city’s west end. The men reportedly reportedly traveled back and forth to Sukabumi and Jakarta on drug runs.

“The narcotics were smuggled in earlier,” Deddy explained. “When [the suspects] came to Indonesia, they were clean. Afterwards, one of them received the narcotics from a fishing boat [and] transported them to land to be hidden.”

Deddy added that some of the methamphetamine seized was set to be distributed in Jakarta, before the rest was transported to other countries.

“Apart from Indonesia, they were likely to distribute to Australia and New Zealand,” he said. “In those countries, the price of methamphetamine could be four or five times higher than Indonesia.”

Deddy said that the BNN will cooperate with the Indonesian Maritime Security Coordinating Board (Bakorkamla) and the Marine Police (Polair) to prevent drug smugglers from operating freely in the Indonesian waters.

“We have three strategies: to circumvent [the operations] from abroad, to prevent them from entering Indonesia or arresting them in their operating area,” Deddy said.

Moradaviland and Mosavipour are now in custody at the BNN headquarters in East Jakarta.


(Two more for the 'gehakt molen" )siK


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