A Taiwanese man, who was caught with a tonne of crystal meth, was shot dead by Indonesian police after he tried to escape, the authorities said Thursday. Reports said that Lin Ming Hui was among a group of four Taiwanese men, who were found with 1,000kg of the drug packed in 51 boxes in Banten province, just a couple of hours outside the capital Jakarta.
Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono said that the police had begun investigating after receiving a tip-off from the Taiwan authorities that drugs had been transported into Indonesia from China.
"We caught them last night, but because one of them tried to escape he got shot and died. Two of them are now in our custody, while the fourth man managed to flee and we are now searching for him," Yuwono told AFP.
Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world that includes capital punishment for traffickers. According to reports, foreigners are quite often caught trying to bring drugs into Bali. The tropical resort island attracts millions of visitors every year.
In the past few years, Jakarta has stepped up a campaign against drug use. It has also executed several foreign and Indonesian narcotics convicts by firing squad. In April 2015, Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were given capital punishment for smuggling around 8.3kg of drugs.
Meanwhile, another Australian Schapelle Corby returned home in May after spending 12 years in a Bali prison following her 2005 conviction for drug trafficking.
