ASEAN ups cooperation to fight drug trafficking

ASEAN ups cooperation to fight drug trafficking

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

The failure to track chemists and the precursor chemicals for
certain types of illegal drugs remain a major obstacle in the
fight against drug trafficking, a conference held here concluded
on Wednesday.

Sr. Comr. Indradi Tharos, a senior officer at the Indonesian
police headquarters who chaired the conference commission
debating terrorism, human and drug trafficking, and arms
smuggling, said chemists were indispensable to the production of
illegal drugs.

"The process of making drugs involves the presence of a
chemist, so it is important to have a list of chemists who travel
frequently across (Southeast Asian) countries that can be shared
among us," he said at the 25th ASEAN Chiefs of Police Conference
(ASEANAPOL).

The commission also discussed plans to beef up the monitoring
of imports of precursor chemicals necessary for the production of
ecstasy and methamphetamine (shabu-shabu) from countries such as
China that produce these chemicals.

"This monitoring will be a huge challenge in the future
because there are enormous markets for these two types of drugs,
whether in America, Europe, Australia and even Indonesia," said
Indradi.

The challenge, he said, was even more difficult for Indonesia
because the country had yet to pass a law criminalizing the
unlicensed possession of these precursor chemicals.

The absence of such a law has often led to the imposition of
administrative sanctions only, not jail sentences, for companies
found to have misused their import licenses.

Another issue discussed at the conference was the possibility
of inventorying the assets of suspected drug traffickers to help
the authorities charge the suspects under money laundering laws.

The conference, which will run through Friday, also
highlighted efforts to tighten the monitoring of ports to cut
down on the amount of illegal drugs entering the member states of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"We have several ports that are loosely monitored, such as
Benoa Port in Bali which serves about 700 boats per month. The
problem is how to tighten the monitoring of these boats," Indradi
said.

He said a survey was underway of Indonesia's ports to identify
those that needed to tighten their security and monitoring
procedures.

According to the National Narcotics Agency, most of the ports
that are prone to the entrance of illegal drugs are located in
Sumatra, Batam, Riau and Bali.

Indradi also said Indonesia could use this conference to
secure assistance in tracking down suspects who fled Indonesia to
other ASEAN countries.