San Francisco Frontiers - Drugged Malaysian pilot risks death penalty for smuggling in Indonesia

The 39-year-old pilot, identified only by his initials, MSO, was arrested Wednesday at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta international airport shortly after arriving from Kuala Lumpur.

The airport customs office did not say which carrier the pilot worked for, but the flight number indicated it was a Malaysia Airlines plane.

"The results of his urine test came back positive for meth, MDMA, and cocaine. So, at the time of the flight, he was under the influence," Hengky Tomuan Parlindungan Aritonang, an official at the airport customs office, told reporters in the Indonesian capital.

"What concerns all of us is that this person's profession is a pilot, and at the time he arrived, he had just flown that plane from Kuala Lumpur to Indonesia," he said.

Customs officials found 14 bags of ecstasy -- more than 70,000 pills -- in the pilot's suitcase, and four grams of meth, thought to be for personal use, in his hand luggage.

Hengky said the pilot likely did not expect to be checked in the special customs lane for pilots and crew, "but the monitoring we carry out is the same" for everyone.

In a statement to investigators, the man said this was the third time he had attempted to smuggle drugs, the second to Indonesia and once in Malaysia.

Awaludin said the police suspected "MSO" to be part of an international syndicate, and he has been charged with smuggling.

Under Indonesian law, he risks the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Indonesia has some of the world's toughest anti-drug laws, including the death penalty for traffickers, but has maintained a moratorium on executions for several years.

- Airline 'internal review'

The pilot told investigators he had been promised some 50,000 Malaysian ringgit (just over $12,000) to deliver the narcotics in Jakarta.

Malaysia Airlines, in a statement Friday, said it took the allegations seriously and had launched an internal review.

"Malaysia Airlines will extend its full cooperation to the relevant authorities in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations," it said.

The carrier declined further comment pending the Indonesian investigation.

There are dozens of foreign traffickers on death row in Indonesia, hundreds altogether.

The Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country last carried out the death sentence for drug offences in 2016, when one Indonesian and three Nigerians were executed by firing squad.

Two British men were sentenced in March to nine and 11 years in prison, respectively, after they were found guilty of smuggling cocaine onto the tourist island of Bali.

In June, the Bali police arrested two Russian nationals for attempting to smuggle nearly eight kilograms of hashish to the resort island.

M.Gonzalez--SFF