Foreign suspects busted with three kilograms of heroin

Foreign suspects busted with three kilograms of heroin

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Only two days after police announced the arrest of a major drug
dealer Friday, the police arrested on Monday three suspected drug
traffickers and seized three kilograms of heroin from them valued
at Rp 1.8 billion (US$211,765).

The suspects were identified as Seck Dusmane, 27, of Senegal;
Ngemezulu Militon, 25, of Malawi; and Core Patrick Bosco, 30, of
the Ivory Coast.

"They have been on the wanted list for a long time," Comr.
Agus Irianto, chief of Tebet Police subprecinct in South Jakarta
told reporters.

The three were captured at 1 a.m. on Monday in their rented
rooms at guest house Eksekutif Panorama on Jl. Lebak Bulus II,
Cilandak, South Jakarta.

It was the ninth big arrest in the city this year.

The police arrested the suspects thanks to information from
Mahfud, 30, a small-time drug dealer, who was arrested on
Saturday afternoon. Mahfud, a resident of Jl. T1, Kebon Baru,
South Jakarta, was arrested on Jl. Tebet Barat Raya. The police
confiscated two packages of putauw (low grade heroin) from him.
He told police investigators that he had purchased the drug from
African drug dealers.

Based on the information, police raided rooms 806, 807 and 804
of the guest house. In Dusmane's room, the police found 25 bags
of heroin hidden in a refrigerator door. Each bag weighs 100
grams, totaling 2.5 kilograms.

In Militon's room, the police also discovered 20 bags of
heroin weighing a total of 500 grams. Despite finding no drugs,
in Bosco's room the police arrested him as they believe that he
is also a member of the same drug syndicate.

According to Agus, the suspects ran a garment business as a
cover to evade police.

"We are still hunting down other suspects in the drug ring,"
he said.

The suspects have violated Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics. If
convicted, they could face the death sentence.

At least 21 people, mostly foreigners, have received the death
sentence since January 2000 for smuggling drugs into the country.
Six of them are women.

In the last case early this year, the court handed down the
death sentence to Ang Kiem Soei, a Dutch passport holder who
owned two ecstasy factories in Tangerang.

So far, none of the convicts has been executed.

Last Friday, police arrested Tony Taslim, 28, alias
Washington, alias Ahua, a member of an international drug
syndicate. They seized from him 12,000 ecstasy pills and two
kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) worth Rp 2.5
billion. The police arrested him after receiving information from
the Australian Federal Police, Hong Kong Police and police of the
Republic of China.

Separately, Panda Nababan of House of Representatives
Commission II overseeing laws, urged the Jakarta Police not to
release suspects of drug crimes in exchange for bribes.

"We call on the police not to receive any bribes in exchange
for the release of drug suspects," he told reporters on the
sidelines of a meeting between 18 legislators of Commission II
and officials of the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

Last week, the media reported at least two cases implicating
policemen who had allegedly released drug suspects after they
received bribes. One of the cases was in Central Jakarta and the
other in West Jakarta.

Kebon Jeruk Police arrested last week two drug suspects Femi
Andika, 22 and Yudi, 22, who had just consumed putauw in their
car. Police found a syringe inside the car. One of the suspects
was still wearing a civil servant's uniform of the Jakarta
administration. A day after the arrest, police released the
suspects, claiming they found insufficient evidence to detain
them.

When asked about the case, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen.
Makbul Padmanagara claimed that he had not received the report
yet.

He called on the public to report any wrongdoing committed by
his subordinates related to drug offenses.

He vowed that he would take stern action against policemen,
regardless of their rank who were involved in drug crimes
provided the information passed on to him was valid.