SHAH ALAM: Four narcotics officers from Bukit Aman were dispatched to Jakarta, Indonesia, to question the Malaysian pilot recently detained for alleged drug smuggling.
Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the officers had been given two days, from Aug 12 to 13, to interview the 39-year-old pilot and determine whether an international drug syndicate was behind the smuggling operation.
Besides gathering further information from the pilot, he said his statement would be compared with information already obtained by police here.
“We have been given access to meet the pilot on Aug 12 and 13 to to obtain more information and compare it with what we have gathered here in terms of the syndicate and other matters.
“We want to verify several other matters related to the case so that we can obtain more detailed and accurate information from him,” he said at a press conference yesterday.
On July 30, Indonesian authorities at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport detained the pilot after he was allegedly found attempting to smuggle drugs into the country.
Customs officials found 14 bags containing more than 70,000 Ecstasy tablets in the pilot’s suitcase, as well as 4kg of methamphetamine in his hand luggage.
Meanwhile, Comm Hussein said several individuals, including personnel working at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), had been called in to have their statements recorded.
He said it was still too early to confirm or deny whether an “insider” was involved in the case.
“If someone else was involved, I would need solid evidence to say that an insider was involved.
“At the same time, I am not ruling out the possibility that there was no insider involvement,” he said, adding that investigations were still ongoing.
On the possibility of tracking down other syndicate members involved, he said it posed a challenge as they were using false identities to register telephone numbers.
On a separate matter, Comm Hussein said a 54-year-old Malaysian man detained in India for allegedly smuggling 4kg of hydroponic cannabis was believed to have obtained the supply from Thailand.
He said police were investigating whether the man was linked to a syndicate in Malaysia or had been recruited as a drug mule in Thailand or Malaysia.
Comm Hussein said there were 14 cases involving 14 Malaysians arrested abroad for drug-related offences between January and July this year, with 73.17kg of various drugs worth RM5.519mil seized.
Taiwan recorded the highest number, with six cases, followed by the Philippines and Indonesia with two cases each, while Hong Kong, Macau and the Maldives recorded one case each.
Meanwhile, 51 people were arrested in 41 cases at KLIA during the same period, involving drugs worth RM96.9mil.
“Of the 51 arrested, 12 were Malaysians.
“We also arrested nationals from the United Kingdom, Singapore, France, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Ireland, Slovakia, India, Portugal and the Republic of Uganda,” he added.
