Aug. 17 drug raids net five suspects

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

While Jakartans were celebrating Independence Day on Aug. 17, narcotics detectives apprehended five people suspected of being involved in separate drug rings, a police officer revealed on Wednesday.

City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said that the police had also seized some 400 ecstasy pills, crystal metamphetamine popularly known as shabu-shabu and marijuana.

"We suspect that they are part of quite large drug syndicates, considering the amount of the drugs in their possession confiscated as evidence," he remarked.

Based on information from other suspects detained earlier, the first suspect, identified as Lusiana, was arrested at her boarding house in Central Jakarta at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The police found 200 ecstasy pills and 100 grams of shabu-shabu in her possession.

Hours later at 7:30 a.m., a team of narcotics detectives caught suspect Robin Wijaya on Jl. Gondangdia near Hero supermarket in Central Jakarta. Police found 203 ecstasy pills on Robin.

From Robin, police got information on another dealer who used to run a drug operation on Jl. Keutamaan, in West Jakarta. Police immediately went to the place, but the suspect had fled the spot.

Separately at about the same time, another team of narcotics detectives arrested George Setyawan at a room on the 21st floor of Puri Casablanca Apartments in Tebet, South Jakarta. The police found four grams of shabu-shabu on him.

Last week police arrested two Malaysians staying on the same floor of the apartment block.

The arrest on Tuesday was made based on a tip-off from other apartment tenants.

Later at 3 p.m., one of the teams arrested Nur Alam Tayib, while he was standing outside Ratu Ayu bar on Jl. Tubagus Angke, West Jakarta. The police confiscated a 150-gram package of shabu- shabu from him.

The four are currently detained at the Jakarta Police lockup for narcotics suspects.

Tjiptono added that on the same day the South Jakarta Police apprehended Kadir near a photography equipment shop on Jl. Raya Ragunan in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. He was reportedly carrying a plastic bag containing 2.5 kilograms of marijuana.

Kadir is now being detained at the South Jakarta Police Station.