2-month blitz against drug trafficking launched

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Police Detectives revealed on Thursday that they were intensifying action against drug pushers, in a joint effort with other police divisions, including the mobile brigade and intelligence divisions.

"The operation, under the police code name Antik Jaya (anti narcotics raid) started on July 15 and will run for two months," said City Police Detective chief for Drugs, Adj. Sr. Comr. Carlo Brix Tewu.

Antik Jaya is an annual City Police program consisting of several operations and aimed at capturing known drug dealers still at large.

"We have several names on our wanted list, who are the targets of our operation," Carlo said, declining to be more specific.

He said that, so far, the police had arrested four suspects.

One of the suspects, known as Toni Korea, has been linked with an international drug ring.

Carlo said police had seized several packages of ecstasy pills from Toni. Carlo's subordinate, Adj. Sr. Comr. Anjan Pramuka Putra, said that Toni was an Indonesian citizen.

Police apparently added "Korea" to his name, referring to a South Korean drug circle to which he might be linked.

Anjan refused to divulge the operation's progress, saying that police would reveal it "within days."

Drug related offenses are the third largest offenses in the city, after auto theft and burglary.

This year, up until June, 1,012 drug related cases were recorded in the police data bank.

Last year, police reported 2,642 drug related cases, a significant jump of 44 percent, from only 1,831 cases in 2001.