10 districts prone to drug trafficking, BNP says
10 districts prone to drug trafficking, BNP says
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The Provincial Narcotics Agency (BNP) of Jakarta announced on
Thursday that 10 of the capital's 47 districts were prone to drug
trafficking.
The 10 districts are Tanah Abang, Kemayoran, Menteng and
Gambir in Central Jakarta; Taman Sari, Tambora and Cengkareng in
West Jakarta; Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta; Makasar in East
Jakarta and Kebayoran Lama in South Jakarta.
The agency chief and Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo stated during
a City Hall press conference that the announcement was made based
on raids recently conducted by a joint team in conjunction with a
recently released survey. He added that they hoped such an
announcement would help prevent such illegal activity from
spreading to other districts.
He also said that drug trafficking was the worst in the
Kampung Bali section of Tanah Abang. Kampung Bali has long been
known as a hotbed of illegal drug abuse and trafficking.
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) explained that in its
survey they had found that 85 percent of the area's 12,000
residents had at some point used illegal drugs.
"We believe that drug-trafficking activities at the 10
districts have involved well-organized networks with strong
financial backing," said Fauzi, who is also the city's deputy
governor.
"The drug syndicates are strong enough that they can threaten
and intimidate people not to tipoff the police about their
illegal activities."
Fauzi said the BNP's raids were very dangerous and risky for
the BNP officers, while citing a recent seizure of more than 60
arrows in the kampung.
He added that the BNP would intensify monitoring of other
districts, which border the 10 districts to prevent the spread of
the distribution of the drugs.
In a three-month operation, the BNP -- comprising officers
from the city police, the immigration office, the city public
order agency and the city tourism agency -- managed to arrest 157
suspects.
The BNP also confiscated 19.5 kilograms of marijuana, 591
ecstasy pills, 16.8 grams of shabu-shabu (crystal metamphetamine,
three passports and 60 arrows.
"We have submitted 128 case files and handed over the suspects
to the prosecutor's offices," Fauzi said.
The BNP will also target prisons for its next operations since
penitentiaries were among the safest hideouts for drug
traffickers to run their businesses from.
Jakarta Police reported that drug-related cases in the capital
had increased by 34.8 percent from 2,559 in 2002 to 3,449 this
year.
A recent survey has revealed that 3.9 percent of students from
junior high to university level have tried drugs and many had
become addicted.
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Comr. Gen. Makbul
Padmanagara welcomed the operation made by the Jakarta branch.
"We hope the BNP in other provinces can follow suit."
Of the 33 provinces in the country, 28 have their own BNP
offices.