Officers involved in drug cases

PURWOKERTO, Central Java: As many as 300 officers have been punished for their roles in drugs cases since 1998, a senior officer said here on Friday.

The chief of the Narcotics Task Force at National Police headquarters, Adj. Sr. Comr. Imam Wahyudi, said that the officers were among 1,800 people involved in the total of 861 cases that the police had handled since 1998.

The real number of drugs cases was very high nationwide. "We were only able to deal with 861, but the real number of cases could reach more than 8,000."

"We have taken strict measures against the offending officers. Some of them were dismissed," said Imam.

The number of drug abusers had been increasing from year to year, he said, but didn't go into details.

"Ninety percent of those arrested for drugs are between 17 and 23 years of age. The rest are under 17 or older people."

Imam was interviewed by reporters at the 2001 National Boy Scout Jamboree, before going on to speak about the dangers of drugs to the boy scouts. (45/sur)