Thai citizen arrested in Indonesia for drugs
A Thai female citizen, Runtipang Ammahia, was arrested by a joint operation team of Indonesia's South Sulawesi police and the country's National Narcotics Agency (BNN) South Sulawesi branch, on Friday evening, for an alleged attempt to smuggle in one kilo
Runtipang, 36, who departed from Singapore using Garuda Indonesia flight No GA-849, was arrested shortly after she arrived at Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport, Makassar, South Sulawesi, at around 6.30pm local time.
South Sulawesi police spokesman Endi Sutendi confirmed the arrest. “Currently, she is undergoing a string of investigations by the investigator team,” he said on Saturday.
Endi said Runtipang was found to have brought shabu-shabu when the customs and excise office officials at the Sultan Hasanuddin airport checked her luggage using an x-ray detection facility.
“When her luggage was x-ray checked, they detected several objects inside that aroused suspicion.”
The officials opened the luggage and found two aluminium foil-wrapped packages within stacks of clothing which contained shabu-shabu. “Each package contained 500 grams of shabu-shabu,” said Endi.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post, Endi said that the joint team was still investigating the case as the suspect allegedly had a network in Indonesia, specifically in Jakarta, amid doubts whether Runtipang was involved in previous drug smuggling cases.
Last year, the BNN arrested a Singaporean for bringing in 1kg of shabu. If proven guilty, the suspect could face five years or more in prison.