91 foreigners rounded up, 5 arrested
91 foreigners rounded up, 5 arrested
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
An joint antidrug operation between the Jakarta Police, Jakarta
Provincial Narcotics Agency (BNP), Jakarta Immigration Office and
the city administration was unsuccessful in arresting foreign
drugs suspects on Thursday. Instead, the officers detained five
foreigners for being unable to produce their passports.
"We examined 91 foreigners and only five of them had problems
with their passports, either they did not have a passport or they
had more than one," the city police psychotropic substances unit
chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anjan P. Putra told the press.
The joint operation was conducted in several areas in Tanah
Abang district including Kampung Bali, Petamburan I Hotel and
Petamburan II Hotel in Petamburan and on Jl. Jaksa, all in
Central Jakarta. No evidence of drug dealing was found during the
operation.
Anjan said the raid was focused on those places because they
were notorious for drug dealing allegedly involved foreigners.
The officers detained five foreigners: Thiokary Ali from Mali,
Jaiteh Ismaila from Gambia, Camara Ali from Guinea, Wilson
Chiskwemeka Oboiora from Nigeria and Pouambe Lyeste from
Cameroon. They were taken to the BNP office on Jl. Trunojoyo,
South Jakarta.
Except for Ismaila, who had two passports, the other four were
arrested as they failed to show their passports.
Later in the afternoon, couriers brought to the BNP office the
passports of the four foreigners. The BNP officers later handed
them over to the immigration office for further investigation.
"The immigration office will decide what kind of measures
should be taken," Anjan said.
Speaking about the failure to find drugs in the operation,
Anjan was looking into the possibility that information on the
planned operation had been leaked to the suspected dealers.
"We just hope that the raided areas are free of drugs," he
said. "However, it is not easy to declare areas that are
notorious for drug dealing clear of drugs."