Indonesia has arrested 10 Myanmar nationals after authorities seized 2.6 metric tons of liquid methamphetamine from a ship sailing under the Tanzanian flag, in one of the country’s largest recent drug busts.
Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency chief Suyudi Ario Seto said the drugs were discovered in a water tank and eight 200 litre drums concealed on top of a shipping container aboard the vessel.
The joint operation involved Indonesia’s narcotics agency, police and customs authorities. Investigators began analysing intelligence about the vessel in December last year, after noticing that it frequently changed its identity.
Authorities intercepted the ship on Monday, August 17, as it was sailing through the waters of the Riau Islands in western Indonesia. The 10 Myanmar nationals were arrested during the operation.
Seto said the seizure demonstrated how drug traffickers were adapting their methods by moving narcotics from solid to liquid forms. He warned that liquid methamphetamine could potentially be used in products such as vapes and electronic cigarettes.
“This is concrete evidence that narcotics crimes have evolved from solid forms into liquid forms,” Seto said, while calling for a total ban on vapes.
Indonesia has some of the toughest drug laws in the region, with certain serious narcotics offences punishable by death.
Authorities also said the suspects may have links to another major drug case earlier in August involving a ship carrying 1.3 tonnes of ketamine, which was also intercepted in Riau waters. Most of the crew members arrested in that case were Myanmar nationals.
The latest seizure has raised concerns among Indonesian authorities about the growing use of maritime routes to smuggle synthetic drugs into the country and the increasingly sophisticated methods being used by international trafficking networks.
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