Drug abuse on the rise in Bandung

Drug abuse on the rise in Bandung

BANDUNG: The number of narcotic-related cases in the West
Java's capital of Bandung has been increasing during the last
three years, police records indicate.

Bandung Regional Police chief Sr. Supt. Timur Pradopo, quoting
from the record, said on Thursday that there were 60 cases in
1998 and 171 cases in 1999.

"In the past ten months we have handled 144 cases," he said at
a one-day seminar on Narcotics, Law Enforcement and Regional
Policies at the Panghegar Hotel.

Timur did not mention the reasons for the increase in the
number of such cases.

"Narcotics have also been abused in rural areas among children
and housewives," he said.

Another speaker, the head of the West Java Prosecutors'
Office, Marwan Effendy, agreed with the police data, saying that
in 1999 his office processed 101 narcotics and psychotropic-
related cases and conveyed them to the district court. "In the
last ten months, we have completed 212 dossiers and have
submitted them to the court for further processing. Unfortunately
many of the defendants have had to be freed due to lack of
evidence." (25/sur)