City police continue the hunt for 'big bosses' of drug gangs
City police continue the hunt for 'big bosses' of drug gangs
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite several big arrests over the last several weeks, the
police are still searching for several big drug bosses involved
in producing and selling heroin, crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy
and marijuana.
The head of the city police's drug unit, Sr. Comr. Carlo Brix
Tewu, said on Monday they had identified several big dealers
operating in the capital and had put them on the wanted list for
immediate arrest.
"They are the ones who supply the drugs to most of the smaller
dealers at the regency level. Unless we nab them, drug use in the
city will continue to rise," he told The Jakarta Post.
Police arrested four suspected drug dealers last week,
including one woman gang leader, identified as Ray Rezani, and
confiscated 72 grams of crystal methamphetamine, or shabu-shabu,
in joint raids in Greater Jakarta.
Carlo said Ray and her gang were only one of 29 groups dealing
shabu-shabu in Jakarta allegedly controlled from Hong Kong by Au
Yun Ceun, alias Apui, and two South Korean citizens, Toni and
Ationg.
"We have nabbed some of them and will continue to hunt down
the rest. They are helped by hundreds of distributors and smaller
dealers at the regency, district, subdistrict and neighborhood
levels," he said.
Several alleged big drug distributors in the city have been
identified as Ahong, Yung Yung, Tina, Yanti, Sou Ha, Aliong,
Hendri, Devi, Lukman, Indra, Hari and Beni Pendi.
Carlo said that all of these people had direct contact with
the big drug bosses in Hong Kong and were supplied directly from
the Chinese territory.
"They transfer a certain amount of money through an account at
a private bank in Jakarta and the drugs are sent to several fake
addresses to avoid police suspicion," he said.
In addition to syndicates specializing in shabu-shabu, police
are also investigating other groups that deal mainly in heroin
and ecstasy.
Carlo said that in most cases, the heroin was distributed by
African citizens, including Nigerians and Rwandans. He said the
police had made numerous arrests, but there were always new
distributors to take their places.
Last Wednesday, police arrested a Nigerian citizen identified
as Ramacau Jonas, 32, in Tangerang, Banten, and confiscated 50
grams of heroin.
Convicted drug dealers can face the death penalty under
Indonesian law, and several African, Indian and Thai citizens
have been sentenced to death and executed under these tough drug
laws. However, drug use in the city continues to rise.
Carlo said ecstasy remained in high demand among Jakartans
and many distributors could produce thousands of ecstasy pills a
day.
"We have carried out raids and closed down ecstasy factories
numerous times but they seem to be able to build another factory
in another area instantly," he said.
Recently, officers from the city police confiscated 13,000
ecstasy pills from two warehouses in the Mutiara complex in Taman
Palem, Cengkareng, West Jakarta.
Carlo said the majority of the ecstasy trade in Jakarta was
allegedly controlled by six big bosses he identified as Burhan
Tahar, Ale, Joni, Herry Tjung Senjaya, Tjie Kwang Oh, and Tinna.
"In our arrests in ecstasy cases, the suspects always mention
one of these names as their distributors. We have made their
arrests our top priority," he said.
Carlo said the police had deployed about 400 undercover
officers to track down all of the drug fugitives.