REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The regional office of the directorate general of customs in Jakarta is monitoring imported goods coming from Iran, India, the Netherlands and Hong Kong, seeking to confiscate illegal narcotics.

"We are tightening up imports from these four countries coming through the sea, air and mail post," said Hatta, head of the customs regional office of enforcement and investigation, here Tuesday.

Hatta noted that customs officers will perform two to three checks on goods imported from these four countries.

He explained that the monitoring aims to determine whether the goods are those that are prohibited, unauthorized or required to pay import duties.

According to Hatta, from January through August 2014 there were nine interceptions of narcotics, particularly of shabu, a popular name for methamphetamine used in Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The drugs were concealed inside the wrappings for medicines or wheat flour.

"The biggest catch in 2014 was methamphetamine weighing 35kg in an apartment in West Jakarta. The goods were not hidden, it looked like wheat flour," Hatta said.

Many arrests are for smuggling methamphetamine, which is hidden to appear as flour.

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