Five arrested in drug crackdown

JAKARTA (JP): City police have arrested five people during a crackdown on the distribution of fake drugs in the capital, an officer said on Tuesday.

The city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said the first two suspects, Gunawan alias Cebing and Lim Tiong alias Acong, respectively owners of Sinar Terang and Gembira drug stores in Pramuka market in East Jakarta, were arrested on Thursday.

The other suspects, Lie Foe Khione, Erwin Isa Wijoko alias Alex, and Arlis bin Kamaluddin, believed to be the suppliers of the fake drugs, were arrested on Friday.

From the suspects, police confiscated thousands of boxes containing various fake drugs, among others Chinese medicine and western medicine such as pain killer Ponstan and several kinds of antibiotics, Anton told a news conference at the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

City police detective chief Sr. Comr. Adang Rochjana said the investigation into fake drug distribution would continue.

He said the operations were jointly carried out with officials from the Food and Drugs Control Agency (BPOM).

The arrests upset traders at Pramuka market. They said they were confused as to why the two traders were arrested while they received the drugs from the same suppliers.

"We are selling similar goods. We are confused, what will happen next?" a drug trader told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.(emf)