Armed Drug Dealer in East Kalimantan Nabbed by Regional Police Narcotics Unit
The Narcotics Directorate of the East Kalimantan Regional Police has successfully raided a narcotics distribution network for methamphetamine, allegedly controlled by a dealer with the initials DN, in Kutai Kartanegara Regency. The drug dealer, who had equipped himself with a firearm, was arrested during Operation Antik Mahakam 2026.
During the operation, two men from Muara Badak, Kutai Kartanegara, with the initials AD and DN, were arrested along with dozens of grammes of methamphetamine. However, one of DN’s subordinates managed to escape carrying a firearm, and police are currently pursuing the suspect.
Director of Narcotics Investigation for the East Kalimantan Regional Police, Senior Commissioner Romylus Tamtelahitu, stated on Wednesday that the dealer DN had been a target of operations as he was suspected of controlling methamphetamine distribution in the Muara Badak area. ‘This is a disclosure of an operational target in Operation Antik Mahakam 2026. The dealer we arrested was known to commonly use a firearm,’ he said.
He detailed that the case began on Monday at around 5:30 p.m. local time. A special team from the East Kalimantan Police Narcotics Directorate first arrested a man, AD, on the Samarinda-Bontang highway. Officers seized two packets of methamphetamine with a gross weight of 4.52 grammes, a mobile phone, cash, and a motorcycle from the suspect. During interrogation, AD confessed to obtaining the drugs from DN, leading the team to DN’s residence in a durian plantation area.
At the second location, police arrested DN at his home, where he is suspected of acting as a dealer. Officers found eight packets of methamphetamine with a gross weight of 27.88 grammes, along with Rp19 million in cash suspected to be drug transaction proceeds, digital scales, and other paraphernalia.
The arrest of DN did not proceed smoothly, as police had prior information that the suspect and his group possessed a firearm. ‘We already knew the location was that of an armed dealer. During the raid, one of DN’s men fled through the back of the house carrying the firearm,’ Romylus explained. Police pursued the fugitive into the forest but lost his trail after several hundred metres.
Although the accomplice escaped, officers managed to secure three rounds of ammunition while subduing DN. The firearm itself was taken by the fleeing suspect. The identity of the escaped individual has been identified, and police will soon issue a wanted list and continue the manhunt.
The two suspects, AD and DN, are charged under Article 114 (2) of the Narcotics Law and face severe penalties for large-scale drug trafficking. Police confirmed that the investigation is ongoing to dismantle the network controlled by DN and to apprehend the armed fugitive.