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.