There have been far too many cases of Indonesian pilots getting caught with illegal narcotics, but this latest case is especially worrying because it involves the capture of a person whose job is to ensure the competence of pilots in the country.
On Thursday, the Jakarta Metro Police Narcotics Directorate arrested two pilots for an alleged drug deal. One of the pilots, identified by his initials GS, works for Bangladeshi airline Regent Airways while the other, identified by his initials BC, flies for Batik Air and is also a flight examination officer at the Ministry of Transportation.
The pair was reportedly captured during a meth transaction in the parking lot of Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta.
According to the police, GS has been consuming meth for the past four years, while BC has been a user for 10 years.
“I don’t know how they passed their urine tests. That’s down to their airlines,” Jakarta Metro Police Narcotics Directorate Commissioner Jean Calvijn Simanjuntak told Tempo yesterday.
GS confessed to the police that he had brought the meth, which weighed 0.8 grams, to be given as a gift to BC, who is his flight examiner. GS, who is an Indonesian national. GS is reportedly required to have his license validated in Indonesia once every six months, even though he works abroad.
Jean added that the police also found evidence of drug paraphernalia at both GS and BC’s homes in Jakarta. According to him, the two are being charged with violating articles of Indonesia’s strict drug laws that carry maximum penalties of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
In addition, the Transportation Ministry says it has suspended BC from flying indefinitely. Lion Air Group, the parent company of Batik Air, says they can’t issue further sanctions on BC because he is officially employed by the Transportation Ministry and only flies for Batik on a part-time basis.
Regent Airways has not commented on the arrest of GS.
Last year, there were at least two reported drug busts on pilots in Indonesia, one involving a senior Lion Air pilot and the other a foreign pilot.
In 2015, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) arrested a pilot and two flight attendants who worked for Lion Air at a “drug party” in South Tangerang, and, between 2012-2015, three Lion Air pilots were arrested for drug use.
Another incident from last year, not narcotics-related but equally worrying, involved a visibly intoxicated pilot for Citilink almost flying a plane.
Source: Coconuts Jakarta, August 6, 2018
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