Soekarno-Hatta Airport Customs Thwart 3,106 grams of Marijuana Smuggling Attempt

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Soekarno-Hatta Customs and Excise officers thwarted two attempts to send marijuana or weed from the United States to Indonesia through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. A total of two packages of 3,106 grams of marijuana were confiscated.

According to the Head of the Soekarno-Hatta Customs and Excise Office, Gatot Sugeng Wibowo, the drug was smuggled using a unique mode, namely the Return to Origin (RTO) mode. "The package’s final destination is the UK, but it was delivery was refused so it was sent back or RTO," said Gatot, on Tuesday.

Gatot said that the thwarted shipments came from California and were addressed to PMT Company in the Cengkareng area, West Jakarta on December 27, 2023.

The officer became suspicious of the contents of the package after confirming to the recipient,  who admitted to having never made the delivery. "An in-depth examination of the package was then carried out," said Gatot.

Disguised as Play-Doh Modeling Compound Pack, officers found 3 packages of dried leaves weighing 570 grams, 579 grams, and 520 grams respectively for a total of 1,549 grams.

"When a Soekarno-Hatta Customs and Excise laboratory test was carried out, the results showed positive for Class I Narcotics of the Marijuana type," said Gatot.

Three days later, officers again confiscated packages of marijuana, disguised as a package of a Black Red Portable Bluetooth Speaker.

"Officers found the package sent by the same sender from America but with a different phishing method with the initials of the LUAS company with an address at Pantai Indah Kapuk," said Gatot.

From the results of the inspection, officers found three identical packages of leaves weighing 478 grams, 544 grams, and 535 grams respectively The marijuana weighed 1,557 grams in total.

The shipping label was California-based, Gatot said, but explained that “the account used to make the label was long inactive and based in Indonesia”

Gatot suspected that the original British recipient written on the label is an account that has not been used for a long time so that when it was inevitably rejected the package will be sent back to the sender's address on the label using RTO (Return to Origin) mode. "Based on the investigation, it is suspected that the final destination of the package is Indonesia," said Gatot.

Officers, said Gatot, cooperated with the police and sent the marijuana evidence to the Soekarno-Hatta Airport police resort for further investigation.

JONIANSYAH

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