Indonesian sailors seize $82M of cocaine floating off port

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s navy says sailors deployed to secure travel during the Eid al-Fitr holiday made the country’s biggest cocaine seizure after finding plastic packages of the drugs floating at sea. Indonesia is a major hub for drug trafficking in Southeast Asia and has strict drug laws, with convicted smugglers sometimes executed by firing squad. The four black packages containing nearly 400 pounds of cocaine worth $82.6 million were found floating near Merak port on Java island. The navy’s deputy chief of staff says smuggling drugs by throwing packages and a buoy into the sea is a common tactic in the archipelago.