Ngurah Rai Customs NAB Indonesian Meth Smuggler

Kuta (Antara Bali) - Customs officers at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport foiled an attempt to smuggle in  968 grams of methamphetamine by an Indonesian citizen.

I Made Wijaya,  head of the airport's Customs Service and Supervision,  said here on Thursday the 29-year-old suspect whose initials were EW  was caught on Wednesday at around 2.00 pm.

"After an analysis of the suspect's appearance and body movements, we became suspicious and decided to stop and search him  thoroughly," he said.

The suspect was caught after disembarking from a Thai Airways plane (flight TG 431) serving the  Bangkok-Denpasar route. After the suspect had passed an X-Ray machine for the standard check,  officers stopped him for an interview.

"Then we conducted thorough examination of his luggage and clothes," he said.

During an examination of the suspect's black bag the  officers found packs of white crystal powder stashed in a camouflaged section of the bag.

The powder later proved to the Category I narcotic drug methamphetamine weighing 968 grams which were worth up to Rp2 billion in the black market.

He said the suspect would be charged with violating the law on narcotics and could face the  death penalty and a fine of maximally Rp10 billion.(*)