Man arrested with 60 kgs of marijuana
JAKARTA (JP): Police arrested a man in Depok, West Java, Saturday for allegedly possessing and trafficking about 60 kilograms of first-grade dried marijuana from Aceh worth about Rp 144 million (US$41,142).
Chief of Jakarta City Police Detectives' Narcotics Affairs unit, Lt. Col. H. Abdullah, said Saturday that the arrest of the suspect, identified as Muslim, alias Sumardi, 29, constituted the largest marijuana haul in the last three years.
The last major marijuana haul was in July when 30 kilograms were confiscated by police from three arrested drug dealers.
Muslim was arrested at his rented house on Jl. Tanah Baru Raya in Depok early Saturday morning by an undercover detective.
"The suspect would sell the marijuana for about Rp 2.4 million per kilogram," Abdullah said.
The suspect regularly moved address to conceal his activities, he said.
Abdullah said the marijuana from a cannabis plantation in Aceh Besar was apparently brought to Jakarta by a courier earlier this month. The courier is still at large.
"Muslim admitted during the police interrogation that he ordered the marijuana from a person in Aceh," he said. Police have identified Muslim's source in Aceh, he added.
"People who are involved in drugs, especially heroin and marijuana, always collaborate with people they really trust," he said.
"People in such a syndicate often don't know each other. That makes it difficult for us to trace the suspects," he said.
Muslim had been involved in drug trafficking for some time, Abdullah said. "He used to sell an average of three to five kilograms, so the 60 kilograms was possibly his big bite."
He said that Muslim had previously agreed to provide up to 100 kilograms but reduced the deal to 60 kilograms.
The police are now trying to locate the remaining 40 kilograms.
Aceh
Abdullah said the courier brought the marijuana to Jakarta in small packages.
"The courier traveled here by bus. The arrested courier said he picked up the packages from a courier at a bus station in Tangerang and took them to his house in Depok," he said.
He said past raids had also confiscated marijuana from Aceh, an area notorious for its huge illegal cannabis plantations.
"Aceh's role as one of the major suppliers of marijuana in the country persists until now," he said.
Police have been trying to eradicate the plantations which are usually found in forests, making it difficult to locate them.
In April, police discovered a huge cannabis plantation on the slopes of steep forested hills in Banda Aceh.
Police also uncovered more than 17,000 cannabis plants, seized more than 64,000 kilograms of wet marijuana and arrested 13 people, believed to be members of a marijuana syndicate which owned the plantation.
Police said the syndicate employed poor farmers to help tend the plantation and transport the marijuana. The farmers were often poorly paid while the syndicate reaped big profits.
In September, police discovered three marijuana plantations in the Glee Meulinggee village of North Brueh Island in Aceh Besar regency.
About 5,700 six-month-old cannabis plants were uprooted and kept as evidence and thousands of others were destroyed.
Abdullah said his office would try to quickly complete the investigation on Muslim and send the case to the prosecutor.
According to the 1997 Narcotics Law Number 22, people who are found guilty of possessing marijuana face a maximum penalty of seven years in jail and a Rp 250 million fine.
Those found guilty of trafficking marijuana face a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail and a Rp 1 billion fine. (cst)