Two Chilean citizens, identified only by the initials J and B, were arrested on Saturday, October 3, at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia. Customs officers found 4,594.5 grams of cocaine hidden in their backpacks.
T13 reported, citing statements from Indonesian authorities, that officers found the drugs during an X-ray check when the pair arrived at the terminal. The images showed four black plastic bags holding a white powder, concealed in secret compartments in the back panels of the backpacks.
Senior Commissioner Stevy Fritts Pattiasina, acting head of the Bali Provincial National Narcotics Agency (BNNP, its Indonesian acronym), gave the details on Thursday. J's backpack held two packages with a gross weight of 2,284.5 grams. B's held another two weighing 2,310 grams.
According to Pattiasina, the two presented themselves as tourists. They had flown from Santiago on LATAM Airlines flight LA805, then boarded Jetstar flight JQ43 in Melbourne, Australia, bound for Denpasar, the capital of Bali. They told officers they were on holiday on the island.
The operation ended with a third arrest, an Indonesian man identified as HU. The BNNP says he was the one who was supposed to receive the drugs. The Chileans had booked a hotel and asked it to pick them up. Two motorcycle taxi drivers took them there. The drivers are now treated as witnesses and are not implicated in the case.
Police were watching the detainees when they tried to hand something over to another person. According to the official account, one of them got a call from HU, who then collected a package at the hotel. HU was arrested without resistance.
"There are strong suspicions that these individuals are part of an international drug trafficking network", Pattiasina said. He added that investigators are searching for a foreign national believed to have organized the operation. Chilevisión, citing the outlet Bali Times, reported that one of the Chileans said he was following another person's instructions.
For now, the case is at the police investigation stage. The Ngurah Rai Customs Office handed it over to the Bali BNNP, which is working with Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency. The sources do not say whether the detainees have been formally charged or when they might appear in court.
Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug trafficking laws. Article 114, paragraph 2, of Law No. 35 of 2009 on Narcotics provides for the death penalty, life imprisonment or 5 to 20 years in prison for traffickers. It also sets fines of between 1,000 and 10,000 million Indonesian rupiah.
The sentence depends on the type and quantity of the drug. The two Chileans can only be convicted if an Indonesian court finds them guilty. Until then, the law presumes them innocent.
The sources do not say whether the Cancillería (Chile's Foreign Ministry) has provided consular assistance to the detainees or contacted their families. Their full names and their lawyers have also not been disclosed.
