Businessman nabbed on drug charges

JAKARTA (JP): City police detectives arrested on Wednesday businessman Suryono Jusuf, alias Empek, for possession of more than one kilogram of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), an officer said on Thursday.

Supt. Abdullah HS, City Police narcotics detective chief, said that besides shabu-shabu, police detectives also confiscated from the 39-year old businessman packages of marijuana and ecstasy pills.

"City Police detectives seized from the suspect 1,189 grams of shabu-shabu, which were packed in 22 packages; two packages of marijuana with 25 grams each; six pink ecstasy pills and 23 brown ecstasy pills," Abdullah told reporters at City Police Headquarters.

He said the City Police detectives arrested Suryono at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday after receiving a tip off from the public.

The officer said detectives initially seized from him two grams of shabu-shabu at his house on Jl. Kebon Jeruk in South Jakarta on Wednesday.

After interrogating the suspect, the police learned that Suryono owned a large amount of drugs kept in his other house on Jl. Lautze in Central Jakarta, he said.

"We developed the investigation and finally revealed that he kept a large amount of drugs in his house in Central Jakarta," Abdullah said.

The suspect's house was also used as a beauty parlor, with the name Faulie Beauty Parlor.

The detectives arrested the businessman and seized the drugs on Thursday, he said.

Abdullah said the suspect was then tipped as a drug trafficker.

"The suspect is charged with trafficking drugs, since he was arrested of possessing more than a kilogram of shabu-shabu," he said, while adding that it was impossible for him to consume the drugs himself.

By trafficking the drugs, the suspect will be charged with the violation of Article 60 of the 1997 Law on Psychotropic Substances, which caries a maximum punishment of 15 years in jail and a fine of Rp 200 million (US$22,471). (asa)