Former Saritem Red-Light District in Bandung Still Operating; Several People Detained After Testing Positive for Methamphetamine

BANDUNG — A joint team comprising police, the Indonesian military, municipal public-order officers and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) carried out another raid at the former Saritem red-light district in Bandung on Friday (16 October 2026). Several people were detained, three of whom tested positive for methamphetamine use.

The joint team conducted the raid from 7pm into the night. Activity at the red-light district was still continuing in Saritem, and a raid had also been carried out the previous week.

Bandung Police Chief Dedi Supriyadi said the operation was part of the National Police Chief’s priority programme to rehabilitate areas affected by narcotics. Police worked with the BNN, the military and municipal public-order officers to conduct the raid in Saritem.

“The result was that three people tested positive for using the drug methamphetamine, while four women were detained by the municipal public-order officers,” he said on Friday, accompanied by Bandung Police Narcotics Chief Oliestha Ageng Wicaksana.

He stressed that Bandung Police were committed to ensuring that not a single patch of land became a drug den. “We will continue to fight this; it is a shared commitment,” he said.

He thanked the BNN and the military for taking part in the operation, adding that authorities would continue to work together to protect Bandung from drug trafficking.

“We will certainly carry out more intensive operations at certain locations, and we will involve the media openly as a means of social oversight,” he said. Previously, several men and women had been taken away in a lorry and brought to Bandung Police Headquarters.