BNN Questions Wiretapping Regulations in New Criminal Procedure Code, Hindering Drug Case Handling

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), Suyudi Ario Seto, has questioned the restrictions on wiretapping authority in the new Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP) because they hinder the handling of narcotics cases.

“The most crucial issue is the substance of the new KUHAP law that limits wiretapping authority only to the investigation stage,” Suyudi said during a hearing with Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) regarding the Narcotics and Psychotropics Bill, on Tuesday (7/4/2026).

According to Suyudi, this restriction directly impacts the effectiveness of handling narcotics cases.

“However, wiretapping authority should also be vital to be carried out at the investigation stage and be an inseparable part of fulfilling the elements of criminal offences,” he stated.

Suyudi also emphasised that special investigation techniques such as wiretapping, controlled delivery, and undercover buys are part of closed intelligence activities.

These methods are not intended to directly obtain evidence, but rather to search for preliminary evidence and map networks that are often not visible on the surface.

Considering the characteristics of narcotics crimes that operate very quietly, BNN stresses the urgency for special investigation techniques, including wiretapping, to be legally carried out from the investigation stage,” he added.

Therefore, BNN is urging that wiretapping authority be regulated specifically (lex specialis) in the Narcotics Bill.

“This step aligns with the strategic view of the Indonesian National Police and has been supported by the KUHAP law which provides room for wiretapping actions to be regulated separately or as lex specialis in the Narcotics Bill,” Suyudi said.

“Furthermore, in implementing the evidence provisions in Article 86 of Law Number 35 of 2009, this has also been concretised as the result of wiretapping, so the Narcotics Bill must still regulate wiretapping explicitly,” he stated.

Deputy Minister of Law Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej said that before a specific law on wiretapping is enacted, law enforcement agencies do not have wiretapping authority in cases other than corruption and terrorism.