The quiet Balinese regency of Bangli turned into the set of an action film: gunfire, smashed motorbikes, injured local residents and a forceful arrest with the suspects pinned face down on the asphalt.
The chase was the final stage of a major international operation to combat drug trafficking.
The main figures in this drama are 51-year-old Russian national Kira K. and her 39-year-old accomplice, Sergey Kh. The story began not in Bali, but in Jakarta, at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Customs officers scanned Kira’s luggage after she arrived from Thailand and discovered 7.8 kilogrammes of smuggled hashish inside an ordinary-looking suitcase.
Instead of making an immediate arrest, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) decided to play the long game and launched a controlled delivery operation. Officers followed Kira across Java.
She rented a car, drove to Ketapang port and arrived in Bali at Gilimanuk port on an overnight ferry. There, her accomplice Sergey was already waiting for her in a red Toyota Raize crossover. As soon as Kira got into his car, a team of eight plain-clothes officers in unmarked vehicles began following them.
The special services had planned to arrest the suspects in Bangli regency. But when Sergey realised they were being followed, he decided to shake off the pursuers. Near the village of Kayubihi, he dropped Kira off while the car was still moving, leaving her with the suitcase full of drugs, and then hit the accelerator.
Sergey sped through narrow village streets at a furious pace, smashing into everything in his path. The first person injured was 71-year-old Ni Wayan Sudarmi, a local grandmother who was selling traditional porridge near a college.
The Russian man’s car completely destroyed her stall. The woman suffered serious knee injuries and was rushed to hospital. The Toyota Raize then rammed into a motorbike carrying local residents: two women aged 56 and 50, and a 57-year-old man. Fortunately, they escaped with minor injuries and shock.
To stop the out-of-control driver, BNN officers first fired warning shots into the air, then opened fire at the car’s tyres and bodywork. According to a police source, the situation was extremely tense: the car was being driven aggressively and posed a threat to people’s lives.
The chase ended on Jalan Danau Buyan. The bullet-riddled car was blocked, after which special forces officers dragged Sergey out of the vehicle. By that time, Kira had already been quietly detained with her ill-fated suitcase on a nearby street.
Both Russian nationals are now being held in a temporary detention cell. Bali police are calculating the material damage and taking witness statements.
Meanwhile, BNN is continuing to trace the wider chain: investigators in Bali are looking for other members of the international drug network who were supposed to receive the shipment. The entire network of accomplices, communication channels and the exact weight of the pure substances are being checked.
Given the huge amount of hashish seized — almost 8 kg — and the aggravating circumstances, including ramming local residents and fleeing from the police, the outcome for the detainees appears to be clear. Under Indonesian law, smuggling category-one narcotics in such quantities can lead not just to many years in Kerobokan Prison, but to life imprisonment or execution by firing squad.
Sources: kompas
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