The pilot, identified only by
his initials, also tested positive for ecstasy and cocaine when he was arrested
last week at the Jakarta airport, the Indonesian police said.
·
Indonesian
authorities arrested a Malaysian
pilot at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on 28 July 2026 for
allegedly smuggling drugs.
·
Customs
officials intercepted the pilot after X-ray
screening of his luggage revealed suspicious contents.
·
Authorities
seized 70,114 ecstasy
pills weighing 25.19
kg (about 55.5 pounds) and one package of methamphetamine.
·
The
pilot tested positive
for ecstasy and cocaine following his arrest.
·
Police
released CCTV footage
showing the pilot being stopped at the customs checkpoint and his luggage being
searched.
·
Investigators
alleged the pilot carried a bottle
of urine to try to evade drug testing.
·
The
pilot reportedly confessed he was promised 50,000 Malaysian Ringgit (about US$12,200)
to deliver the drugs in Jakarta.
·
He
allegedly said he was instructed to check into a hotel, where another person
from Malaysia would collect the narcotics.
·
Investigators
also claimed the pilot admitted to two
previous drug-smuggling trips, including transporting
methamphetamine to Sabah
and Jakarta.
·
Malaysia
Airlines,
while not officially identified by Indonesian authorities, said it is cooperating with the investigation
and conducting an internal
review, reiterating its zero-tolerance policy for misconduct.
·
The
pilot is being investigated under Indonesia's
narcotics laws, which provide for severe penalties, including the
possibility of the death penalty, for large-scale drug
trafficking.
Authorities in Indonesia have released video footage of the
arrest of a pilot from Malaysia who they said smuggled about 55 pounds of ecstasy
and a package of methamphetamine after landing at the main international airport
serving Jakarta last week.
The pilot, who was identified only by the initials M.S.B.O.,
also tested positive for ecstasy and cocaine when he was arrested on July 28, the
Indonesian National Police said in a statement on Friday (07.08.2026).
The statement did not name the pilot’s employer, but in a
statement that was cited in Malaysian news reports, Malaysia Airlines said it was
cooperating with the investigation, according to The Associated Press.
“Malaysia Airlines wishes to reiterate that it does not tolerate
any form of misconduct and is currently undertaking an internal review of the matter,”
the airline said in the cited statement.
The airline did not respond to inquiries about the episode
on Wednesday.
The arrest took place on July 28 when customs agents performing
X-ray scans of luggage at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport “identified
suspicious contents” in the pilot’s suitcase, the police said. The airport serves
the greater Jakarta area on Java, Indonesia’s most populous island.
On Monday, the authorities released video footage in which
the pilot, his face blurred, is seen pulling a roller bag to a luggage carousel,
where he then retrieves a checked suitcase. He rolls the luggage through a customs
checkpoint, where agents pull him aside for screening.
When the agents opened the larger suitcase, they discovered
various drugs, including 14 “large packages containing ecstasy and one package of
methamphetamine,” the Indonesian National Police said.
“The total evidence seized comprises 70,114 ecstasy pills
with a net weight of 25,194.83 grams,” or about 55.5 pounds, Eko Hadi Santoso,
director of narcotic crimes at the Criminal Investigation Agency, said in the statement.
At one point, the video shows agents questioning the pilot
as they hold a plastic bottle filled with a liquid. In the video’s description on
Instagram, the police said the bottle contained urine that they suspected he was
carrying to deceive officers.
The pilot told investigators that he had been promised 50,000
Malaysian Ringgit, or about $12,200, to transport the drugs to Jakarta, the police
said. He also said that, after he checked into a local hotel, he had been told he
would receive further instructions from a person from Malaysia who would later collect
the drugs, according to the police.
Investigators said that the pilot admitted transporting drugs
on two other trips, including one in which he delivered methamphetamine to Sabah,
a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, and 15 pounds of methamphetamine to Jakarta.
It was not clear if the pilot had a lawyer. The police said
he was being investigated under Indonesia’s narcotics law, which carries serious
penalties — including the possibility of the death penalty — for people convicted
of trafficking large quantities of illegal drugs.