MEDAN, Indonesia: Indonesian authorities said on Friday they made two major drug busts worth millions of dollars on the island of Sumatra within days.
Police and customs officers intercepted a ship carrying 1.1 tons of ketamine in the waters off Sumatra on Tuesday, according to national police chief Suyudi Ario Seto, and uncovered a clandestine liquid meth lab in Aceh province a day later.
The intelligence community began tracking the MT Global 168 tanker, sailing from Thailand through the Andaman Sea, in August after receiving information it may be engaged in suspicious activities, Suyudi told reporters in the city of Medan.
The vessel flew the Mongolian flag but is owned by a company based in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, Suyudi said.
Police and customs officers intercepted the vessel in the Strait of Malacca on Tuesday as it was heading toward Port Klang, Malaysia, and brought it to Belawan Port in North Sumatra for inspection.
“From this search operation, the joint team managed to seize illicit drugs in the form of ketamine HCL (hydrochloride). The evidence was found in 58 sacks with a total weight reaching 1.16 tons,” said Suyudi.
Ketamine functions primarily as a fast-acting anaesthetic but is widely abused as an illicit party drug. Its distribution is tightly controlled and monitored in Indonesia.
Authorities arrested eight crew members, seven Indonesian and one Taiwanese.
Police estimated the load was worth 3.48 trillion rupiah (about $192 million), Suyudi said.
The seizure came just over two months after Indonesian authorities intercepted a ship carrying 1.3 tons of ketamine from Thailand hidden inside 65 sacks near the Riau islands.
On Wednesday, authorities raided a clandestine meth lab in Pidie Regency, Aceh province, seizing 1.2 tons of meth, Suyudi said.
The drugs were worth an estimated 2.16 trillion rupiah.
Nine Indonesian nationals and two Chinese were arrested at several locations during the operation, he added.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws, including the death penalty for traffickers, but has maintained a moratorium on executions for several years.