Navy officer nabbed for drug dealing, illegal gun ownership

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City police have arrested a Navy officer on charges of drug dealing and illegal gun possession.

The suspect was arrested on Tuesday in his apartment in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, along with three women, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said.

He said the arrest was made based on a tip-off from another drug suspect who claimed he was supplied by the serviceman.

"We arrested Hendra and his three female companions in his apartment. Only later did we find out he was a Navy officer," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The suspect did not resist arrest.

Besides finding evidence of 1.7 grams of shabu-shabu (crystal methampethamine), he said, police also found an unlicensed firearm in the apartment.

The four suspects were questioned at Jakarta Police Headquarters, but at around 1 p.m., several cars from the Navy Military Police came to pick up the officer.

"We must hand him over to the military police because he is an active officer. We can't do anything about that. However, we will proceed with the legal process as he has committed crimes," a detective, who requested anonymity as the probe was ongoing, told the Post.

Under the narcotics law, the suspect could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison, while under Emergency Law No. 1/1964 he could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for possessing an unlicensed firearm.

The Navy officer was the second state official to be arrested for dealing drugs in the last four days.

On Friday, head of the bureau for religious affairs at the State Secretary, Baharuddin Mamasta, 53, was arrested in his car in Mangga Besar, West Jakarta, while buying two packages of shabu-shabu from a man who was riding a bicycle.

The police, who saw the bicycle rider throwing the packages through Baharuddin's open car window, signaled to him to pull over. In attempting to escape, Baharuddin hit the police car, but was later arrested.

Several other state officials, including a prosecutor, identified as Hendra Ruhendra, and another high-ranking official at the State Secretary, identified as Taufik Mappaenre Ma'roef, were also arrested recently for drug dealing and assault.

Hendra was arrested in July in his apartment in Kuningan, South Jakarta, for the possession of hundreds of grams of shabu- shabu and two unlicensed firearms, while Taufik was arrested in April at Soekarno-Hatta airport with 3.1 grams of marijuana on his personage.