Four drug dealers nabbed, 8500 ecstasy pills seized

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta police arrested over the weekend four suspected drug dealers and seized 8,500 ecstasy pills plus 100 grams of shabu- shabu, or crystal methampetamine, at three separate locations.

Two suspected drug dealers, identified as Ray Angela, 27, alias Sherly, and Purwanto Nugroho, 31, alias Kiki, were apprehended in Sunter Hijau, North Jakarta, while Lie Jie Tek, 44, was arrested in Gunung Sahari, Central Jakarta.

City police narcotics unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sugeng IR said that Sherly and Kiki were caught red-handed during a drug transaction, while Lie was arrested while he was waiting for Sherly to deliver drugs to him.

He said that his officers found 7,300 ecstasy pills and 100 grams of shabu-shabu in Sunter Hijau and 200 ecstasy pills in Gunung Sahari.

"We suspect Sherly is a member of a international drug syndicate. We will be interrogating her to see if she is a supplier for other drug agents in Jakarta," Sugeng said.

Based on the information from the three suspects, police then moved to Jl. Kewenangan in Glodok, West Jakarta, to pick up Andrianto Agung, 30, alias Ayung.

"We arrested him also as we found another 1,000 ecstasy pills in his house," Sugeng said.

He said that all four suspects were now being detained at City Police headquarters for further questioning.

The police are in the midst of a campaign against drug trafficking in the capital.

Over the last two weeks, around 90 drug dealers have been nabbed by East Jakarta police at several locations across the municipality, while last week Jakarta police arrested four suspected members of a drug syndicate and confiscated 176 kilograms of marijuana.

A Nepalese, a suspected international drug supplier identified as Man Sing Gale, 40, was shot dead last April after he apparently resisted arrest in Bekasi, West Java.

Police said that they seized 1.25 kilograms of heroin, 276 grams of cocaine, 500 ecstasy pills and a firearm from his house.

Earlier, City Police arrested 761 people, including five foreigners and several active military and police personnel, seizing over 100 kg of drugs in raids conducted in dozens of places across the capital.

"Every police precinct chief has been ordered since last month to arrest at least 32 drug traffickers each month in their respective area as we find traffickers have penetrated into (residential) neighborhoods," said City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono.