1,000 people captured in Operation Cleansing

JAKARTA (JP): After nearly a month, the army-sponsored Operation Cleansing has led to the capture of more than 1,000 people.

They have been charged with various crimes, and almost four million tablets or capsules of dangerous drugs and some marijuana, a half a million bottles of alcoholic beverages, and more than 300 weapons, including firearms and sharp weapons, have been confiscated.

The latest figures released by the Information Bureau at the Jakarta Military Command Saturday showed that a total of 1,031 people were taken into custody as of Friday.

Of the 1,000 people, 10 were arrested for carrying firearms, 248 for carrying sharp weapons, one for kidnapping, six for making threats, 13 for armed robbery, 58 for extortion, two for mugging, 21 for theft, 15 for pickpocketing, eight for vandalism and 10 for brawls. The remainder were arrested for drunkenness, 319 people; for selling liquor, 263 people, and for trafficking in drugs, 57.

The evidence seized consisted of 3,739,000 pills, 19 envelopes of cannabis; 403,204 bottles of alcoholic beverages; 10 firearms, eight of which were factory-made and two were handmade; 82 knives, 211 machetes, 10 sickles, six badik (Sulawesi traditional dagger), eight bayonets, and 15 scissors.

The army-sponsored Operation Cleansing started on April 11, and involves 16,700 officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police Force.

The operation is aimed at combating crime, which is on the rise, and preparing for the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit meeting, which is slated for November in Bogor, a town 60 kilometers south of Jakarta.

The operation focuses on weapons, as well as spirits, which are blamed as the main causes of crime.

The liquor was confiscated from bistros, shops and street-side warung, which had no licenses to sell it. All the confiscated drinks are locally made.

Racing

In a related development, Lt. Col. Didi Supandi, spokesman for the Jakarta military command, told the Jakarta Post Saturday that thus far Operation Cleansing has excluded from its goals any crackdown on the motorcycle drag racing in several streets across the city at night.

"Frankly speaking, the night bike racers are not yet included among the operation's targets. When the operation was launched last month we thought the night racing had already disappeared," Didi said.

He did not rule out the possibility that the drag races could be added to the list of illegal activities to be dealt with by the Operation team.

Despite the ongoing Operation Cleansing, a lot of adolescents are indulging themselves in their hobby of racing at night on motorbikes or cars along major roads in the city.

Streets where they usually race include Jl.Jendral Sudirman and Jl. Arteri Pondok Indah-Pejompongan.

They usually drag race on Saturday evenings and police can do nothing to stop them most of the time.

They even reportedly dare to race past police stations. (jsk)