MBG Programme Workers, Government Honorees, up to PPAT Officials Arrested for Drug Offences

Workers from the Free Nutritious Meals programme, honorees from the Mataram Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) and the NTB Public Works and Public Housing Department (PUPR), as well as an employee at a land deed official’s office (PPAT), have been arrested by the Mataram City Police Resort (Polresta). They were apprehended in relation to a drug case. “Some are still honorees, some are contract employees, MBG volunteers, and there’s also one working at a PPAT, but none are permanent staff,” said the Head of the Narcotics Investigation Unit (Kasatresnarkoba) of Polresta Mataram, AKP I Gusti Ngurah Bagus Suputra, on Wednesday (8/4/2026). The total number of suspects arrested is nine. Eight of them, with initials SA (48), FA (39), SAM (41), RI (28), DT (29), AS (29), JH (33), and RA (29), are residents of Mataram. The ninth, with initials FE (37), is a resident of Sering Village, Kerato Subdistrict, Sumbawa, NTB. The nine individuals were arrested at a house in the East Sukaraja Neighbourhood, Ampenan Tengah Ward, Ampenan Subdistrict, Mataram, on Tuesday (7/4/2026). “The house belongs to the one with initials SA,” Suputra explained. “Some are distributors, some help with sales, and others are pure buyers. FA is the owner of the goods. SA, as the homeowner, helps FA sell the shabu. The others went there as buyers. They are users, including the employees in question,” Suputra clarified. During the search, officers seized shabu weighing 5.97 grams gross, Rp5 million in cash, mobile phones, shabu smoking devices, a digital scale, and empty clips. “We suspect the money is the proceeds from selling narcotics,” Suputra said. The nine drug suspects arrested have been detained at Polresta Mataram and are undergoing examination. “We are still developing the case,” Suputra revealed.