Malaysia Airlines pilot busted with 70,000 ecstasy pills in Jakarta

A Malaysia Airlines pilot was arrested last week after Indonesian customs officers allegedly found more than 70,000 ecstasy pills in his suitcase, and authorities said a post-arrest urine test indicated he had been under the influence of methamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine when he flew the plane.

The 39-year-old pilot, identified by Indonesian authorities only by the initials MS, was piloting flight MH727 from Kuala Lumpur when customs officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport flagged a suspicious suitcase during an X-ray screening late Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, which cited Eko Hadi Santoso, director of narcotics crimes at Indonesia’s National Police Criminal Investigation Agency. The pilot was taken into custody Wednesday after collecting the bag, Indonesia’s Directorate General of Customs and Excise said at a joint press conference Friday with police investigators. 

Customs officers recovered 14 packages containing 70,114 ecstasy pills with a net weight of roughly 25 kilograms, or about 55 pounds — a figure some wire reports have rounded to 26 kilograms (57 pounds) — along with four grams of methamphetamine, Director General of Customs and Excise Djaka Budi Utama said at the briefing.

A lab test found the pilot’s urine positive for MDMA, methamphetamine and cocaine, said Awaludin Amin, head of a narcotics sub-directorate at police criminal investigation agency Bareskrim. Customs official Hengky Tomuan Parlindungan Aritonang said that result meant the pilot “was under the influence” during the flight, telling reporters, “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.” 

The pilot allegedly told investigators he had been offered 50,000 Malaysian ringgit, or about $11,700, to deliver the shipment to a contact who was to collect it from his hotel, and admitted to smuggling narcotics on two prior occasions, including a delivery of 7 kilograms of methamphetamine to Jakarta, according to the AP.

Malaysia Airlines said it is cooperating with investigators and has launched an internal review of the incident. Indonesia’s narcotics laws carry the death penalty for large-scale trafficking, and the pilot remains in custody as authorities continue investigating what officials described as a wider trafficking network above him.