JAKARTA, April 29 (Reuters) - Indonesian authorities have
seized 2.5 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine after a series of
raids linked to an international smuggling ring spanning
Afghanistan and Southeast Asia, police said.
The huge drug haul, estimated to be worth $82 million, was
found after raids in three locations, including in the capital
Jakarta and in Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, National Police
Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said on Wednesday.
"We revealed that approximately 2.5 tonnes of
methamphetamine drugs... entered Indonesia," he told a news
conference, where the drugs were displayed in plastic bags.
Police said one person was killed after resisting arrest
during the raids and 18 had been arrested, including 17
Indonesian nationals and one Nigerian citizen.
Agus Andrianto, head of criminal investigations at the
national police, said the drugs entered Indonesian waters from
Afghanistan last month.
Authorities said the drugs were shipped from Afghanistan via
Malaysia.
In 2018, Indonesia seized 1.6 tonnes of crystal
methamphetamine from a ship near the island of Batam.
The Southeast nation has among the strictest anti-narcotics
laws globally, with drug trafficking punishable by death.
Indonesia faced international criticism in 2015 when it
executed a number of foreign nationals, including two
Australians who were leaders of the Bali Nine heroin trafficking
ring.
There has been an unofficial moratorium on the death
penalty for drug trafficking since 2016, but Amnesty
International said in a report the imposition of the death
penalty jumped last year with 101 out of the 117 new death
sentences for drug-related offences.