INDONESIAN police believe a Nepalese man shot dead this week was a kingpin in the heroin importation plot of the nine Australians arrested at Bali.

The man, Man Singh Ghale, was killed in an Indonesian police raid on his house outside Jakarta on Wednesday.

Chief of the Indonesian National Police force narcotics unit Senior Superintendent Indradi Tanos said intelligence indicated he was involved in the case of nine Australians arrested in Bali.

Asked if he believed Ghale was high up in the Bali nine drug smuggling operation, he replied: "Yes".

"We still believe because, based on our investigation and by the analysis of the information technology, then we are trying to find out his position number," he told ABC radio.






The Bali nine were arrested in raids at Denpasar airport and a Kuta hotel on April 17, following a tip-off by the Australian Federal Police.

Ghale was wanted by police in several countries, including the US, Nepal and Thailand, for heroin trafficking. He was arrested in Indonesia last year but managed to escape.

Superintendent Tanos described the police raid on Wednesday which led to Ghale's death.

"Our personnel came into the house. My personnel know he tried to move to other room. Then my personnel knocking on the door of his room and there is no reaction and my personnel open by force," he said.

"There is no choice. My personnel has to get a shot on him because he is very dangerous person. They found gun in his house. We found 500 grams of heroin.

"Then we call the police dogs to come. In the second, the dogs also found some other narcotics."