Law enforcement fails to deter drug dealers

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) once again voiced concern over rampant drug abuse in the country, blaming the situation on weak law enforcement.

The chief of the BNN's Law Enforcement Support Center, Brig. Gen. Djoko Satriyo, said that since 1994 the courts had convicted 27 people and sentenced them to death for drug dealing, but nobody had been executed so far.

"Instead, five of them filed for reviews of their cases and eventually the Supreme Court commuted their sentences to life imprisonment," Djoko said on Tuesday.

Data from the BNN reveals of the 27 convicted drug traffickers, 21 are foreigners.

"Compared to Malaysia and Singapore, where people get the death sentence for possession of even small amounts of heroin, Indonesia is very lenient," Djoko said.

There have also been reports of inmates running drug rings while they are behind bars. In January 2003, Innocent Iwuofur, a Nigerian inmate of Tangerang prison, was arrested for allegedly running a drug ring for two years while serving his 12-year- sentence in the prison. In May, three inmates in the same prison were arrested by police for allegedly selling drugs in prison. And in June, a Nigerian inmate, Nwaolisa Hansen Anthony, was arrested for allegedly running an international drug network while serving a life sentence in Tangerang prison.

Djoko said it had become more and more difficult to bust drug gangs as they were more sophisticated and mobile than ever before.

Indonesia over the past decade has shifted from being a drug destination country to being a drug transit center, and finally to a drug-producing country, Djoko said.

"Thus illegal drugs deals are becoming bigger and bigger," he said.

To tackle these problems, the BNN has been attempting to reduce both supply and demand.

"The supply-reduction program focuses on fighting, uncovering and arresting illegal drug importers and producers, while the demand-reduction program focuses on campaigning against the use of illegal drugs," Djoko said.

"Without the supply, there would be no demand. Thus we hope these two programs can bring the illegal drug trade under control."