Indonesian authorities arrest 2 Indian nationals for smuggling meth to Bali
Officers from the Denpasar Police arrested two Indian nationals at a hotel in South Kuta earlier this week, allegedly seizing around 3 kg of shabu (crystal methamphetamine) from the duo.
At a press conference yesterday, Denpasar Police Chief Commissioner Ruddi Setiawan said that the suspects – identified as Manjet Singh and Harvinder Singh – flew to Bali from Jakarta and hid the drugs in “special plastic” to fool airport authorities.
“The two suspects confessed that they acquired the drugs from someone in Jakarta and brought them to Bali by airplane,” Ruddi said, as quoted in a statement.
According to a report from Detik, Ruddi said he suspected that the two were part of an India-Bali narcotics trafficking network.
Police say that both Manjet and Harvinder confessed to this being their third time smuggling drugs to Bali and that they were paid around IDR 10 million (USD 706) each time, as reported by Merdeka.
Police say they received a tip-off about a drug deal that was set to happen on Tuesday morning, leading to them arresting the two men at a hotel located in South Kuta.
Under Indonesia’s notoriously harsh drug laws, police said the alleged drug smugglers face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of IDR 8 billion (USD 565,000).
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