Indonesia seizes more than a tonne of ketamine from tanker

Indonesian authorities have pulled off one of the country's biggest drug seizures this year, confiscating more than a tonne of ketamine worth $192 million from a tanker in the Strait of Malacca.

The 1.16-tonne haul was found aboard a Mongolian-flagged vessel that had sailed from Malaysia into the waters off North Sumatra province earlier this week, according to the Al Jazeera report. Eight crew members were arrested during the operation.

Images from the bust showed uniformed Indonesian officers standing behind long tables stacked with tape-sealed packages. A police banner behind them read "1.16 TON NARKOBA" - 1.16 tonnes of narcotics - alongside the words "Selat Malaka", the Indonesian name for the strait.

The Strait of Malacca, which links the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, is one of the world's busiest shipping corridors - and a long-standing route for smuggling between Southeast Asia and the wider region.

Indonesia is known for enforcing some of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world, with convicted traffickers facing the death penalty. Authorities have stepped up maritime patrols in recent years as bulk shipments of synthetic drugs increasingly move through the region's sea lanes. No further details about the arrested crew or the intended destination of the drugs were released in the initial report.