Int'l crime syndicates poisoning RI

Int'l crime syndicates poisoning RI

SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): International organized crime syndicates are poisoning Indonesia with drugs and polluting its environment with toxic wastes, law experts claim.

Muladi and Sahetapy said at a seminar on crime here this week that Indonesia should also be wary of chemical terrorist attacks and money laundering.

Muladi, the rector of the Semarang-based Diponegoro State University, said that international crime groups are targeting developing countries like Indonesia.

"They are messing us up and poisoning us with their narcotics," he said. "Just look at the growing number of city youths who are addicted to alcohol and drugs."

Trans-national drug trafficking is no longer a secret. Drug syndicates hire people to smuggle drugs by land, air and sea, he added.

One sophisticated crime that Indonesia should be wary of, according to the National Commission on Human Rights member, is money laundering.

"It's common that ill-gotten proceeds are deposited in banks and used in legal businesses. Usually such money is transferred to foreign banks, making it next to impossible for the authorities to trace its origin," he said.

Meanwhile, Sahetapy pointed out that the pollution of water resources by factories should also be treated as a crime.

"The public should be reminded that industrial waste is harmful to biological resources and poses health hazards to human beings," said the lecturer at the Surabaya-based Erlangga University.

According to Sahetapy, environmental crimes also involve the illegal trading of toxic substances used in consumer products, such as cosmetics illicitly produced under well-known brand- names.

"Just imagine the effect of such cosmetics on the women who use them," he said.

Sahetapy also warned of terrorist attacks like the recent ones in Japan.

"Although the danger is not eminent, the crime is possible. People can use gases to blackmail or undermine national stability," he said. (har/pan)