Leaders seek death for Riau ecstasy producers

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau

The Tanjung Balai Karimun administration in Riau province and local religious and community leaders demanded on Tuesday the death sentence for the six drug dealers arrested last week with almost 15,000 ecstasy pills.

Tanjung Balai Karimun Regent Muhammad Sani was apparently outraged by the uncovering of the drug operation leading to the arrest of the suspects who were charged with producing and distributing the illegal drug worth nearly Rp 600 million in his town.

"I want the perpetrators punished severely. The police should not be afraid to uncover those behind the production of the ecstasy pills," Sani said.

"It is quite embarrassing for our region. They (the suspects) have tried to destroy a whole generation," he added.

The regent said that based on Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances, drug producers can be sentenced to death.

In a response to the demand, West Riau Islands District Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agung Sabar Santoso vowed to seek the harshest penalties for the accused.

The law on psychotropic substances stipulates that drug producers, suppliers and users involved in organized crime will receive at least 20 years in prison, life imprisonment or the death sentence, or will be fined Rp 750 million.

The six suspects -- identified as A. Hai, 29; Doni, 22; Ahmad, 34; Andi, 20; Surya, 24; and Acing, 44 -- were rounded up on Friday evening in Meral subdistrict, Tanjung Balai Karimun regency.

Agung said on Monday the suspects produced the ecstasy pills at Ahmad's house, where the authorities also seized manufacturing equipment and materials as well as other equipment necessary for making the drug.

"All the equipment was foreign-made," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"We are tracking down their network to find the suppliers of the machines and drug-making materials. We have obtained their names," Agung added.

Sani admitted he was shocked by the arrest of the suspects and the discovery of their ecstasy-making factory in his tiny town of only 615 square kilometers with around 300,000 residents.

It is a "negative impact of modernity" in Tanjung Balai Karimun, where infrastructure facilities are still limited, he remarked.

"I have instructed all sides here, such as subdistrict, village and subvillage heads, and local people, to be on alert. They must report to the relevant authorities even if they observe suspicious looking people in their neighborhoods, let alone drug dealers," he added.

Also, Endang Tamami, who chairs the city's Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), urged the police to thoroughly investigate the network of drug dealers in order to "satisfy" the people's interests.

"If the network is not uncovered, it will endanger the young generation in Tanjung Balai Karimun, including the children of the security officials themselves," he said.

As part of comprehensive efforts to eradicate crime in the city, the Tanjung Balai Karimun administration should move to "put in order" entertainment places there, where drug dealing, gambling and prostitution are commonplace.