Indonesia seizes over 2 tons of narcotics in one of the country’s largest drug busts

BELAWAN, Indonesia -- Authorities in Indonesia have seized 1.2 tons of liquid methamphetamine in Aceh and intercepted a vessel carrying 1.16 tons of ketamine off Sumatra in two major drug operations, officials said Friday.

Authorities raided a clandestine drug laboratory in Pidie regency, Aceh province, on Wednesday, seizing about 1.2 tons of liquid methamphetamine and arresting 11 suspects — nine Indonesians and two Chinese nationals — National Police Chief Gen. Suyudi Ario Seto said.

Seto traveled to Aceh on Friday after overseeing a separate operation that netted 1.16 tons of ketamine hydrochloride valued at about 3.48 trillion rupiah ($210 million) at Belawan Port in neighboring North Sumatra province.

“The evidence we seized today is not merely a statistical achievement, but millions of young lives that have been saved,” Seto told a news conference in Belawan.

The methamphetamine laboratory operated from two adjoining shophouses in Beureueh Dua village. Investigators believe it was linked to an international drug trafficking network and are examining possible connections to syndicates in China, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as criminal groups in Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle, a region long associated with large-scale narcotics production and trafficking.

Earlier on Friday, authorities announced the ketamine seizure from the tanker MT Global 168 after intelligence officers detected irregularities in its route through the Malacca Strait and the Andaman Sea.

A joint enforcement team intercepted the ship off Tanjungbalai Asahan on Wednesday and escorted it to Belawan Port, where officers found 58 sacks containing ketamine hydrochloride. Police arrested eight crew members — seven Indonesians and one Taiwanese national.

“The back-to-back operations underscore how Indonesia remains a major target for international drug trafficking organizations,” Seto said.

Investigators are tracing the raw materials, trafficking routes and financial networks in both cases and seeking to identify the organizers.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant. Traffickers often transport or manufacture it in liquid form before processing it into crystals for sale. Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used in human and veterinary medicine that is also abused as a recreational drug.

The seizures came just two months after Indonesian authorities seized about 2.6 tons of liquid methamphetamine from a ship intercepted off Batam island near Singapore and detained 10 Myanmar nationals suspected of involvement in an international trafficking network.

Indonesia is considered a major drug trafficking hub in Southeast Asia despite strict narcotics laws, under which convicted smugglers can face execution by firing squad. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says international syndicates continue to target the country’s large, youthful market.

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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.