700 arrested in month-long antidrug drive
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
At least 756 people, including five foreigners and several members of the Indonesian military (TNI) and police, have been arrested during month-long anti-drug raids in residential and entertainment centers across the capital.
City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani also said on Monday that authorities confiscated at least 368 kilograms of marijuana, 275 grams of heroin, 857 grams of crystal methampetamine (shabu shabu), and over 1,700 ecstasy pills.
"We will continue to conduct raids to clean Jakarta from drugs. We will cooperate with related agencies such as the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) to maximize the results," Firman said when presenting confiscated drugs to reporters at city police headquarters on Monday.
According to Firman, at least 351 of those arrested were drug dealers, including four foreigners, while the 404 others were drug users. Three of the four foreigners held Chinese passports.
Firman said the arrest of so many people across the capital was witness to the fact that drug dealing had become a widespread problem and that tough measures had to be taken immediately.
At least 540 drug arrests were made in residential areas across the city, according to Firman.
Firman said that he had ordered his officers in every precinct in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi and Depok to arrest at least 32 big drug dealers every month.
The number of drug trafficking cases continues to increase in the Greater Jakarta area, with two high profile cases being the arrest of a commissioner of state-owned Asset Management Company (PPA) last Friday, and the raid on an ecstasy factory in Bogor, West Java early this month.
The PPA commissioner, identified as Taufik Mappaenre Ma'ruf, was arrested with three grams of marijuana at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. He had apparently intended to go to Bali for a vacation.
Although police were still investigating Taufik's role in a drug dealing syndicate, police said that according to a big-time trafficker, Taufik, who is now under police detention, was a drug dealer.
On April 4, police shot dead an alleged big-time drug trafficker Filip Widjajanto, 46, in a raid on a factory in Jasinga, Bogor.
Police confiscated machines capable of producing thousands of pills per day.
City police anti-drug chief Sr. Comr. Carlo Tewu said that police would concentrate on conducting raids in bars and discotheques, as drugs circulated in such areas.
He said that police would use the money laundering law to net trafficker's assets in addition to demanding heavy punishments from the courts.