Big-time drug syndicates remain out of reach

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite nationwide campaigns against illegal drugs, including the handing down of death sentences to traffickers, the number of drug addicts is on the rise.

Data from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) shows the number of drug addicts stood at 3.6 percent of Indonesia's 200 million population, a sharp increase from only 1 percent in 2002.

Worse, the country has become a destination country for international drug traffickers, as well as maintaining its position as a transit point for them to enter Australia or New Zealand.

Comr. Gen. Togar Sianipar, who recently ended his term as the BNN chief, said that drug trafficking was "at a very critical state" in Indonesia, with international syndicates considering it a new haven for the illegal business.

"The syndicates not only use the country as a transit point or a destination country, but also set up clandestine factories here to produce ecstasy for export," he told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Indonesia has banned 23 precursor chemicals that are the main ingredients for ecstasy production, but still allows eight others to enter the country.

Togar said the syndicates were attracted to Indonesia by its poor border security and law enforcement.

He said the major international drugs syndicates were based in Asia or South America. The Asia cartels centralize their illegal business in the Golden Triangle: Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

The syndicates have started to move their bases from Thailand to the Philippines, and Indonesia would be their next target, he added.

Syndicates from South America usually smuggle heroin while those from Asia smuggle heroine and ecstasy, he said.

Togar said the syndicates were well-organized. As clandestine operations they used cell networks so that when the authorities arrested one member, their organization remained intact.

"It's not easy to catch the big fish. We usually arrest their couriers, most of whom are from African countries. They are known as die-hard couriers. For several hundred dollars, they remain silent despite the threat of capital punishment," he explained.

Togar said the authorities often had difficulty in rooting out the syndicates, pointing to the case of Ang Kim Soei, a Dutch passport holder who was arrested in 2002 during a raid on his ecstasy factory.

"We needed two years to get him despite the fact that the factory was located near a housing complex and police station in Tangerang. Nobody informed us. They might have thought that the police were only pretending not to know about it, or they might have been afraid of testifying," he said.

Togar admitted that certain servants of the state, including police and military personnel, and prosecutors had become drug users, dealers or backers of the syndicates.

"BNN have asked their superiors to deal with them firmly," he said.

However, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman said he had never seen any official report that police officers might be involved in backing the drug dealers.

"That's why we need reports from the public, so that we can find whether any of our officers are involved in drug dealing," he said on Sunday.

A similar denial was made by Lt. Col. Yani Basuki of the Indonesian Military (TNI), who said no complaints had been filed with the military in connection with drug cases.

"As of today, we have never received any reports on the involvement of military personnel in backing up the drug syndicates," he said.

Early this year, Comr. Puja Laksana, a mid-ranking officer with the National Police Headquarters' anticorruption unit, was caught red-handed by the Jakarta Police carrying some 900 ecstasy pills in his car.

Also, the South Sumatra Police arrested one of its own anticorruption unit officers last May for allegedly providing protection to a drugs syndicate.

A 2002 brawl between police and soldiers in Binjai, North Sumatra, was said to have been triggered by the alleged support of the military for a drugs gang.

Lawyer Henri Yosodiningrat, a co-founder of the National Anti- Narcotics Movement (GRANAT), said that the government must leave no room for drug syndicates to grow in Indonesia.

"I know it sounds impossible. Big countries like the U.S., which have spent years and enormous resources in fighting drug trafficking, are still facing the problem. But, with severe punishments and consistent prevention, I believe we can slow it down," he said.