Methamphetamine Vape Ingredients Smuggled from Iran, Officer Says
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17 January 2023 00:37 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of Enforcement and Investigation of Soekarno-Hatta Customs and Excise Zaky Firmansyah, discovered smuggling of crystal methamphetamine in the form of vape. To deceive airport officers, the senders disguised the methamphetamine in the form of silica gel.
"While it looks like a silica gel, in the lab it was discovered it contains not only silica gel," said Zaky at the Metro Jaya Police Headquarters on Monday, January 16, 2023.
Zaky was reluctant to share more information on what raw materials were imported from Iran and had passed through Hong Kong. However, it is suspected that the material is only available outside Indonesia and the creator has made it ready for distribution as a vape containing methamphetamine.
Zaky stated that airport officials were suspicious about a cargo directed to suspected individuals about seven days ago. The package was later opened and examined in the laboratory. Soekarno-Hatta Airport Customs and Excise immediately coordinated with the Investigation Directorate of Metro Jaya Police.
"The lab results showed the raw materials contain narcotics. After that, we conducted a joint operation with a colleague at the police station. The result was discovered at the lab," said Zaki.
He conveyed that the cargo workers were not aware of the shipment of the drug base ingredients. The shipping service is also not responsible for the issues as the sent item is the sender's responsibility.
Based on the public disclosure of this drug smuggling case, the police conducted a raid on a vape factory that contained methamphetamine on Jalan Melati No. 19, Meruya Utara, Kembangan District, West Jakarta on Saturday, January 14, 2023. The police raided the drug vape production house and arrested a man with the initials MRK.
The Police seized evidence consisting of 366 bottles of 50-milliliter liquid and 41 bottles of 30-milliliter liquid which are ready to be circulated. Several vape production equipment containing methamphetamine were also confiscated from the production house.
M. FAIZ ZAKI
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