Alleged drugs boss arrested in Bali

Alleged drugs boss arrested in Bali

KUTA, Bali (JP): Police officers here struck a devastating
blow to the island's narcotic syndicate when during a predawn
raid on Saturday they detained a suspected major drug dealer and
confiscated almost 100 grams of shabu-shabu (crystal
methamphetamine), 200 ecstasy pills and a hand grenade.

Denpasar Police detectives chief Comr. Cahyo Budi, who
personally supervised the operation, said the officers also found
2.9 grams of dried marijuana and 2.8 g of high-grade hashish.

He said the suspect, Ishak Thayeb, was apprehended at around 2
a.m. when he was about to leave his two-story electronics goods
store on Jl. Raya Seminyak, Kuta.

Police officers found eight grams of shabu-shabu in his pant
pocket.

"The finding gave us enough evidence to proceed with a full
search of the store," Cahyo said.

In another room of the store, the detectives found five small
machines, several kilograms of unidentified powder of various
colors, 23 small bottles of unidentified substances, and several
mixing and grinding equipment.

"It seems like we have found something big here. Those
machines were probably used to produce the ecstasy pills, and the
powder is the raw material. I believe we have stumbled onto a
small-scale factory here," a detective said during the search.

Cahyo said the Ishak's arrest was made possible because
sometime around midnight, the detectives intercepted one of
Ishak's drug couriers carrying 50 grams of shabu-shabu. The man,
later identified as Andi Syaifuddin, 30, confessed that the drugs
belonged to his boss, Ishak Thayeb.

The raid end at about 5 a.m. and Ishak was escorted to the
Denpasar Police Headquarters.

Ishak had been identified by police as one of the seven major
drug dealers in Bali. In 1996 he was arrested for trying to
smuggle about 20,000 ecstasy pills into the country and was
sentenced to 14 months in jail. (zen)