JAKARTA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian police have foiled an attempt to smuggle 51 kilograms of methamphetamine from Malaysia, an operation linked to an international network led by fugitive drug kingpin Fredy Pratama, local police said Tuesday.

Senior Commissioner Baktiar Joko Mujiono, director of the South Kalimantan Police Narcotics Investigation Directorate, said two couriers were arrested in the courtyard of a hotel in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan Province, on Sept. 11, with 48 packages of methamphetamine.

Police also confiscated nine packages of ecstasy pills totaling 45,231 pills weighing about 18.8 kg, two more packages with 9,927 pills weighing 4.2 kg, and one package of ecstasy flakes weighing 104.4 g.

The drugs were transported overland from Pontianak, West Kalimantan, to Banjarmasin, where South Kalimantan was intended to serve as both a transit point and distribution area, according to police.

The confiscation is estimated to have saved 301,717 people from potential drug abuse. ■