“The suspect was using a new method by hiding the shabu inside a photo frame, sent from Malaysia to Denpasar, Bali. The suspect is an ex-convict for another drug case,” chief of Bali province’s National Narcotics Agency (BNNP), I Putu Agus Arjaya, said during a press conference. 

Putu said the suspect, identified as RD, plays the role of a drug dealer in an operation that authorities suspect may be controlled by an inmate in one of Bali’s prisons. RD told the police that he planned on packing the shabu into smaller 2 gram packets and selling them for IDR400,000 (US$28.27) each, allegedly as instructed by his handler.  

He was arrested in mid-November as he was taking a package from a courier service located in Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai, which contains 98.82 grams of shabu. 

RD has been charged with violation of articles from Indonesia’s notoriously harsh drug laws, and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Read more news and updates from Bali here.

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