Police arrest 112 traffickers and bootleggers

Police arrest 112 traffickers and bootleggers

JAKARTA (JP): The City Police Narcotic Investigation Unit
arrested 112 people suspected of trafficking and using drugs, as
well as distributing alcoholic beverages in the period between
March and April.

Lt. Col. Joko Satriyo, head of the Narcotic Investigation
Unit, told reporters over the weekend that 59 of the 112 suspects
were classified as drug users, 10 as drug traffickers, 37 as
distributors of alcoholic beverages and six as consumers of the
alcoholic drinks.

He said that the operation against drug trafficking and
alcohol beverages was conducted jointly with the Food and Drug
Control Agency of the Ministry of Health.

He said the suspected drug traffickers and users are being
detained at city police headquarters, while the suspected
alcoholic beverage distributors and consumers are under city
arrest.

Satriyo said that during the operation police confiscated 3.4
kilograms of marijuana, 1.2 grams of heroin, 27 ecstasy pills,
34,861 BK tranquilizer pills, 3,318 megadon pills and a hashish
plant 40 cm high.

The police also seized 377 banned medicine pills, 226 ampules,
74 intravenous tubes and 1,000 prohipnol pills, as well as
100,000 bottles of beverages, with an alcohol content of 16 to 43
percent, he said.

He said the operation against drug trafficking and alcoholic
drink distribution will continue, as part of the police
department's determination to make Jakarta "clean" of the
prohibited substances.

"We are striving to fight against these illegal substances in
order to prevent the young generation from being affected," he
said.

Joko said that all confiscated alcoholic beverages are local
products and that an ecstasy pill is sold at Rp 150,000 ($70) on
the local market.

Head of City Police Investigation Directorate, Col. Nurfaizi,
said that police are finding it increasingly difficult to
discover ecstasy pill sellers because they know about the
operations against them.

Joko explained that the operation against drugs and alcohol
was not easy.

But he reiterated that the police would consistently hold
operations against these types of crimes.

"We want to show the public that the police do not sleep on
the job and do nothing about the overall drug problems," he said.
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