Drug reports may close down Hard Rock Cafe
Drug reports may close down Hard Rock Cafe
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is threatening to close down the Hard Rock Cafe Jakarta if reports on drug deals among the visitors are true, a deputy governor said yesterday.
R.S. Museno, deputy governor for people's welfare, said yesterday that the city administration had not yet received reports from police on Tuesday's pre-dawn raids on the Hard Rock Cafe where police seized 158 Ecstasy pills from the visitors.
No one was arrested in the drug bust as the Ecstasy users were believed to have thrown away the pills on realizing that police officers were coming in.
"We will investigate the case very thoroughly before we act further," he said.
"So, if the cafe is found to be violating the regulations we'll close it down," Museno said.
The head of the city public order office, Kuseini Budiantoro, said yesterday he suspected the cafe management knew that the cafe had been used for drug deals.
"The chance that the management has no idea of these deals is small because it makes big profits when the cafe is full," Kuseini said.
The Hard Rock Cafe public relations manager, Yoris Sebastian, denied the accusation saying that the management won't tolerate any drug abuse in the cafe.
"We will find customers who take Ecstasy or other drugs in the cafe, and take them to Sarinah police station," Yoris said.
"The policy of Hard Rock Cafe International is 100 percent against drug abuse. We are implementing it in Jakarta, so it is impossible for us to tolerate any drug deals here," Yoris told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview yesterday.
Yoris said that the management has been watching customers' behavior since local newspapers exposed the Ecstasy fad among youths.
"That's the best we can do and we can't conduct body searches because that would hurt our business," he said. He said that there was a banner reading "no drugs allowed" on the front door.
The police and the army are launching a crackdown on criminals with 10,000 personnel for an operation targeting discotheques, cafes, bus terminals and shopping and entertainment centers, places which are believed to be favorite hang-outs for drug traffickers, prostitutes, hoodlums and other criminals. (yns)