A pilot working for a national airline and two friends were

A pilot working for a national airline and two friends were
arrested on Wednesday evening for taking shabu-shabu (crystal
methamphetamine), city police said on Thursday.

East Jakarta deputy police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hilman said
Garuda Indonesia pilot identified as, Johan, 29, and two
accomplices identified as Ella and Lukman, were arrested when
having a drug party in a house in Berlan, Matraman.

"Actually we suspected that at least six people were involved
in the party at the house. However, we could only nab three
persons, including Johan. The other three managed to escape,"
Hilman said.

Police confiscated around 20 grams of shabu-shabu and
equipment for using the drug from the three, he said.

Initial investigations showed that Johan was using the drug as
guest at the house, while owners Ella and Lukman had bought it.

"We have interrogated them. Ella has admitted that the drug
belonged to her. She got the drug from someone in Kampung Ambon
in East Jakarta," Hilman said.

Police conducted an operation in the complex after reports
from several residents in the neighborhood.

At around 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, police raided the house and
arrested the three.

Hilman said initially Johan told police that he was just an
employee of an airline company, but when police checked his
employee identity card, it was revealed that he was a Garuda
pilot.

Johan told police he had just returned from the United States,
where he was learning about aviation, he said.

The three suspects were still being questioned at the East
Jakarta Police precinct on Thursday afternoon, with police
focussing their investigation on the identity of the supplier of
the drug.

They are to be charged under Articles 81 and 82 of Law No.
22/1997 on psychotropic drugs. If found guilty they could face a
maximum of 15 years in jail.

Many people from all walks of life, including police officers,
prosecutors, actors, students, civil servants, have been caught
taking or trafficking drugs during the past few months.

The most recent case was the arrest of Cibinong prosecutor
Hendra Ruhendra in his apartment in Taman Rasuna, South Jakarta,
with more than 200 grams of shabu-shabu.

Earlier, a police officer identified as Adj. Comr. Alijoni was
arrested in a drug party in Gunung Sahari, Central Jakarta, while
several actors were also nabbed for ecstasy tablets in several
raids in discotheques last month.

In April, police arrested the former deputy chairman of the
defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Taufik
Mappaenre Ma'ruf for possession of 3.1 grams of marijuana at the
Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Cengkareng, Tangerang. Taufik was on
his way to Bali for a vacation.