Head of the Ngurah Rai Customs and Excise Office Wawan Darmawan said in Kuta, Badung District, on Friday that the two suspects identified by initials as AR (28) and PC (31) were detained after Customs officers became suspicious of their luggage upon their arrival in Bali on Monday (Aug 3).
“The ‘family trip’ scheme has become one of the network’s newer strategies because it can reduce officers’ suspicions. We are now strengthening our profiling efforts,” Darmawan said.
The two Indian nationals arrived on a flight traveling from Koh Samui, Thailand, via Singapore to Denpasar.
An inspection of their two suitcases using X-ray scanners revealed suspicious packages concealed inside food and toy boxes.
Officers discovered 14 boxes containing ten packages of greenish-brown solid material with a net weight of 10,110 grams, or approximately 10.1 kilograms. Laboratory tests confirmed that the substance was marijuana, which is classified as a Category I narcotic under Indonesian law.
Darmawan said the seizure is estimated to have prevented around 2,076 people from being exposed to narcotics abuse.
The confiscated marijuana has an estimated street value of around Rp3.3 billion (around US$200,000).
Ngurah Rai Customs subsequently handed the two suspects and the seized evidence over to the I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Police for further investigation.
Additionally, Chief of the I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Police, Senior Commissioner Made Hendra Agustina, said investigators are still examining the alleged “family trip” scheme as preliminary findings indicate that the two suspects are not husband and wife.
Police are also investigating the intended destination of the marijuana, as the suspects were reportedly scheduled to continue their journey to India.
Investigators are determining whether the drugs were intended to be delivered to a recipient in Bali or transported onward to another destination.
According to the suspects’ preliminary statements, both suspects admitted they had each been promised US$150 by an individual in Thailand to transport the drugs.