Journalists arrested for drugs

CIREBON, West Java: Two men were arrested by Cirebon Police after reportedly being caught with a small package of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) and an inhaler in their car in Cirebon on Thursday evening.

The suspects, Otong Nurachman and Ardie Ardayat, claimed to be journalists with Bandung-based Aristokrat tabloid.

The head of the drug and psychotropic crimes unit, First Insp. Irzan Haryono, said on Friday that police officers became suspicious of an Isuzu Panther van, driven by the suspects, when it veered all over Jl. Tuparev, the city's entertainment strip.

"The police stopped the car and found them high," Irzan said.

Cirebon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Siswandi said the suspects would be charged with violating Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances.

An official of the Cirebon branch of the Indonesian Journalists Association, Rohlani Mawardi, said neither men were listed as members of the association. -- JP