Five international drug ring members detained

Five international drug ring members detained

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) said on Friday five people
had been detained for their alleged roles in a nationwide ecstasy
distribution chain.

However, the agency said the main suppliers from Singapore and
the Netherlands were still at large.

BNN's head of law enforcement, Brig. Gen. Djoko Satriyo, said
the five suspects were arrested in different locations in
Jakarta, including Mangga Besar and Sawah Besar, as well as in
Karawang, West Java.

"We cooperated with the Jakarta and Bali police and other
institutions to launch an undercover operation, and were able to
arrest the suspects," he said.

Djoko said the first three suspects to be arrested were
Johanes, Apin Saputra and Jimmy Wijaya. Acting on information
from these three, the authorities were able to detain David
Sanusi and Sulaeman Gunawan, both believed to be key distributors
of ecstasy in Indonesia.

A BNN task force also seized about 27,000 ecstasy pills from
the hotel room in Karawang where David Sanusi was arrested, Djoko
said.

He said David was thought to distribute 40,000 to 50,000
ecstasy pills a month with a total value of about Rp 5 billion
(US$555,550).

The pills are allegedly supplied by a Singaporean identified
as Collin and a Dutchman identified as Iwan, Djoko said, adding
that another suspect, Indaryanto, was also being sought.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Heru Wahyudi, a member of the Jakarta Police's
narcotics task force, said police still did not know how the
ecstasy pills were being brought into Indonesia.

"So far we have not been able to establish how the pills are
brought in. We hope to get some answers with the arrest of
Indaryanto, who we believe is currently in Bali," Heru said.

He said the five suspects in police custody were not thought
to be producers but merely distributors.

According to a BNN investigation, Indaryanto is allegedly a
member of an international drug gang that controls the
distribution of illicit drugs in Indonesia, including ecstasy,
crystal methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.

Heru said the Indonesian Police were working with authorities
in neighboring countries and the Netherlands to break up the drug
gang.