Noegroho threatens to seal 'drug-infested' spots

Noegroho threatens to seal 'drug-infested' spots

JAKARTA (JP): City police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman
warned operators of discotheques, pubs and bars that he would
seal any of the businesses for an indefinite period and recommend
the revocation of their operating permits should the venues also
be sites of drug transactions and users.

"I will just order the sealing of those venues. I will not
tolerate such things, particularly during the holy month of
Ramadhan," the two-star general told an audience of at least 500
nightspot owners on Wednesday,

"Do not say that there is no drug abuse (at the venues). I,
myself, led a raid on Tuesday night at the city's second most
famous discotheque (Raja Mas) in downtown Kota and red-handedly
caught 10 people, whose heads were already shaking wildly,"
Noegroho explained to businessmen, who were invited to come to
his office.

Following necessary tests conducted by police doctors, six of
the 10 suspects tested positive for drugs, he said.

The officer also questioned the motives of the businessmen,
who always claimed no knowledge of the activities of their
guests, in setting the price of bottled mineral water at
extremely high prices.

"A bottle of mineral water at these venues costs nearly four
times the amount of that sold outside. What for?" Noegroho
questioned the visiting businessmen.

It is widely known that drinking water helps drug users from
becoming dehydrated.

Regarding the fact that several religious groups and angry
residents had been burning and destroying hotels and bars, which
they suspected of holding prostitution, gambling or drug dens in
Tangerang, Bekasi and Bogor, Noegroho said that he had "never
condoned the violent acts."

"I never said that those acts were right. But, the greater
Jakarta area is very explosive. Nobody knows what will happen
here tomorrow. So, it's best to be prepared," he said.

Noegroho added that he had a blacklist of 46 discotheques and
hotels where the most drug busts had been made this year.

The list, he said, included notorious nightspots in West
Jakarta such as Kaliber, Sidney 2000, M Club, Zios, Raja Mas,
Ecsotik, Stadium, Milleneum, Atlanta and Emerald.

Noegroho said that since the beginning of the year, to date
826 men and 62 women had been arrested in Jakarta in drug-related
cases.

Of them, 286 are traffickers and 560 are users.

"I urge all nightspot owners to keep a vigil for drug users or
dealers ... It would be better if I sealed your places up rather
than having angry residents storming into the discotheques."

During the course of the dialog, one nightspot owner told
Noegroho that it was not possible for owners to check each and
every person for drugs.

"That is not possible. We are the owners and we cannot keep an
eye on each and every person in the place," he said.

"We are not exactly happy ourselves. With people threatening
us and other bars and hotels being burned, we are also scared.
Those causing damage to hotels and bars call themselves Muslims.
Well, we are also Muslim."

"They say their Islamic prayers and so do we. We, therefore,
ask Bapak Kapolda (Noegroho) to please protect us. These people
who claim to be religious cannot keep on destroying and burning
nightspots."

The meeting was held following Monday's protest at City Hall
by some 4,000 activists of the Defenders of Islam Front (FPI),
who broke into and blocked the entrance of the building for about
nine hours from 5 a.m., in a measure to press the Jakarta
authorities to close all nightspots in the capital.

The following day, nightspot operators and their employees --
numbering about the same as the previous day's protesters -- also
staged a protest at City Hall, demanding security authorities to
help protect their businesses from mushrooming threats from
certain groups.

After staging the protest on Monday, some 30 FPI members
forcibly seized 1,592 bottles of liquor from a shop on Jl. Kahfi
in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, and surrendered the bottles to the
South Jakarta Police precinct.

When asked to comment on FPI's move, Governor Sutiyoso said he
was very disappointed with such action, sweeping the markets for
alcohol and confiscating it.

"The police should arrest those people because what they've
done is clearly against the law," Sutiyoso told reporters on
Wednesday. (ylt/05/01)