Maya admits to using drugs

JAKARTA (JP): Chief of West Jakarta Police Sr. Supt. Adjie Rustam Ramdja said on Thursday that Gusti Maya Firandi Noor, a grand-daughter in law of former president Soeharto, had admitted to being a drug user.

"During the police's investigation, Maya conceded that she had been using shabu-shabu (crystal methampetamine) for at least one year," Adjie said after attending the inauguration of the National Drug Coordinating Agency (BKNN) in Cawang, East Jakarta.

Adjie, however, refused to elaborate on whether or not the wife of buinessman Ari Sigit Hardjoyudanto, Soeharto's grandson, was using the drug at the time she was arrested for "medical purposes."

Several newspapers have quoted her lawyers as saying that Maya was under medication when she was arrested in her car on the evening of June 24.

Humphrey R. Djemat, her lawyer, said Maya was being treated by doctor Al Bahry Husin from the Wisma Adiksi in Cinere, South Jakarta.

Adjie said police had rejected the lawyer's request to temporarily release the suspect.

"For the effectivenes of our investigation, the suspect should stay here at the police precinct headquarters," he said, adding that once the investigation had been completed, the suspect would be sent to the women's Pondok Bambu Penitentiary. (asa)