Thailand, Indonesia net 3 tons of drugs
Antidrug operations in Thailand and Indonesia netted more than three tons of illegal narcotics and hundreds of drug suspects recently.
On Saturday, Thai authorities seized 2.6 tons of crystal methamphetamine before it could be shipped through the southern border.
The drugs were loaded onto a tourist boat in Eastern Thailand, authorities said on Monday.
Eight men were arrested in Rayong province while allegedly attempting to smuggle the crystal meth. They did not disclose the intended destination or the drugs’ origin.
The drugs have an estimated market value of $90.8 million, Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation said.
The drugs were packed in plastic bags disguised as corn flour packages. Each contained about 1 kilogram.
United Nations experts have said neighboring Myanmar is the source of most of the region’s methamphetamine and heroin.
Housewives
In Jakarta, Indonesian authorities announced on Monday the arrest of 285 drug suspects, including 29 women and seven foreigners, and the seizure of over half a ton of various narcotics following a two-month nationwide crackdown.
The head of the National Narcotic Agency, Marthinus Hukom, said the crackdown, launched between April and June across 20 provinces, also uncovered money laundering schemes by two drug syndicates and confiscated assets worth about $1.5 million.
Thirty-six of the suspects, including 21 women, were presented in their orange prison uniforms and handcuffs, along with confiscated drugs.
Hukom said the women arrested were mostly housewives.
“I call on Indonesian women to be more vigilant in establishing friendships both in the real world and in cyberspace,” he said.
