Indonesian police said they seized 1.16 tonnes of ketamine from a tanker off Sumatra and arrested eight crew members, with police estimating the shipment was worth 3.48 trillion rupiah.
National Police Chief Suyudi Ario Seto announced the seizure at an Oct. 23 briefing in Medan. He said the drugs were packed in 58 sacks.
While the tanker was bound for Port Klang, Malaysia, a joint police and Customs team intercepted it in the Strait of Malacca on Oct. 20. Authorities then moved the vessel to Belawan Port for inspection. The crew included seven Indonesians and one Taiwanese national, Seto said.
Seto said the MT Global 168 had been tracked since August, after authorities received information pointing to possible suspicious activity. The vessel had traveled from Thailand through the Andaman Sea toward Malaysia and flew the Mongolian flag. A company based in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, owned the tanker, he said.
In a separate operation on Oct. 21, authorities raided a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Pidie Regency, Aceh province, Seto said. They seized 1.2 tonnes of methamphetamine, which he valued at 2.16 trillion rupiah. Authorities arrested nine Indonesians and two Chinese nationals at several locations, he added.
