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Surabaya. Two Iranians were arrested on Tuesday for attempting to smuggle liquid methamphetamine into the country through Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, authorities said on Wednesday.

Firtson Mansyur, a spokesman for PT Angkasa Pura, which manages the airport, said the Iranians, a man and a woman, arrived on a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur at 6:45 p.m. Mansyur declined to identify the Iranians, only saying that they remained in custody at the airport.

Adj. Comr. Sudirman, head of the East Java Police’s narcotics unit, said foreign drug smugglers often used Surabaya as a transit city to transport drugs overland, primarily to Jakarta and Bali.

Tuesday’s arrests brought the number of Iranians apprehended for drug trafficking in recent weeks to 13.

On Oct. 19 and 20, customs officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport arrested eight women and two men from Iran for attempting to smuggle more than Rp 100 billion ($10.5 million) worth of methamphetamine into the country.

They were caught with a total of 26.8 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and 22.5 liters of the drug in liquid form. Customs officials called it the biggest ever drug bust at the airport

Another Iranian, identified only by the initials HRMM was arrested on Nov. 2 at Soekarno-Hatta attempting to smuggle in 1,000 grams of crystal methamphetamine valued at Rp 2.2 billion.

Sudirman noted a change in tactics by international drug rings. Previously, he said, the rings employed Africans to deliver their drugs, but now they have shifted to Asians or people from the Middle East.

“Africans have begun to draw suspicion, so they have shifted to Asians,” Sudirman said. “Not only are Asians less likely to be suspected, they are not conspicuous and can easily blend in.”