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Indonesia has seized 2.6 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine hidden on a Tanzanian-flagged vessel in one of the country’s biggest drug busts, with 10 crew members arrested, a senior narcotics official said.
The National Narcotics Agency said in a statement late on Tuesday it had received intelligence that a vessel sailing from Sarawak in Malaysia through the Andaman Sea may have been carrying narcotics to Indonesia.
The agency, in a joint operation with customs officials, intercepted the MV Rain Maker, sailing under a fake name, late on Monday near Bengkalis in Riau province.
“The inspection of the vessel found 2.6 tonnes of methamphetamine, or liquid meth, stored in eight water barrels and a water tank,” narcotics agency official Roy Hardi Siahaan said.
Sniffer dogs also found more than 1.5 million illegal cigarettes on board, the agency said.
Authorities arrested 10 crew members, all Myanmar nationals.
Last year, authorities announced Indonesia’s biggest-ever drug bust with the seizure of two tonnes of crystal meth hidden on a fishing boat sailing from the Andaman Sea to Batam Island.
Monday’s bust was the second involving a Tanzanian-flagged vessel intercepted in the area this month.
On 8 August, Indonesian authorities seized 1.3 tonnes of ketamine from a ship sailing in waters around the Riau Islands near Singapore.
Eight crew members aboard the vessel, seven from Myanmar and one from Taiwan, were arrested.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws, including the death penalty for traffickers, but has maintained a moratorium on executions for several years.
Additional sources • AFP