U.S. pays Indonesian police after drug bust<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Visiting U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales handed over a
\ncheck worth US$287,577 to National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto on
\nWednesday as part of an agreement to share proceeds from drug
\nbusts.<\/p>\n
Gonzales lauded Sutanto's efforts in fighting terrorism as
\nwell as the successful recent crackdown on the world's third
\nlargest drug factory, which was raided in Serang, Banten.<\/p>\n
The proceeds were obtained from a crackdown against an
\ninternational narcotics smuggling ring conducted jointly by the
\nNational Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
\n(DEA) in 1997, which led to the conviction of two Americans.<\/p>\n
This is the first implementation of the asset-sharing
\nagreement.<\/p>\n
Under U.S. law, when funds are forfeited by the U.S.
\nDepartment of Justice, the forfeited proceeds may be shared with
\nanother country in recognition of its assistance in the case. The
\ncheck represented 80 percent of the total proceeds forfeited in
\nthe 1997 raid.<\/p>\n
The funds will be used by the National Police to develop an
\ninformation system for an anti-drug unit here.<\/p>\n
\"The money will be used to finance the development of the
\nJoint Agencies Counter Drug Operation Center (Jacdoc) information
\nsystem. Hopefully, this system will increase the police's
\ncapability in cracking drug cases in the future,\" Sutanto said.<\/p>\n
He said he hoped that the police would be able to crack down
\non other drug syndicates like the one using the factory in
\nSerang. The factory contained around 62.4 tons of precursor
\nchemicals for producing crystal methamphetamine, locally referred
\nto as shabu-shabu and 6.2 tons of precursor chemicals for making
\necstasy, as well as thousands of ecstasy pills and hundreds of
\nkilograms of methamphetamines ready for delivery to Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
The police so far have arrested 15 suspects in the case,
\nincluding foreign nationals from France, the Netherlands and
\nChina.<\/p>\n
Deputy head of the narcotics division at the National Police
\nHeadquarters Sr. Comr. Indardi Tanos said that he believed that
\nthe people arrested were part of a larger international drug
\nring.<\/p>\n
Indardi said that one of the Indonesians arrested, Benny
\nSudradjat, was believed to be running the factory as a member of
\nan international syndicate. According to Indardi, Benny confessed
\nthat there was a non-Indonesian who funded the ecstasy plant.<\/p>\n
\"Right now we're starting our investigation by tracking down
\nwhere exactly the machines, used to make pills, were produced and
\nwho bought them,\" Indardi said, adding that he only knew the
\nmachines were produced in Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Indardi said they hoped to get more information about the case
\nafter a reenactment of how the entire operation worked, which
\nwill take place on Thursday at the factory site in Banten.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/us-pays-indonesian-police-after-drug-bust-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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