Police arrest drug suspects in one month
Police arrest drug suspects in one month
Evi Mariani, Jakarta
Jakarta Police announced on Monday that they have arrested 388
suspected drug dealers in the capital in a month-long operation.
"The operations (from June 1 to June 26) was related to the
commemoration of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking last Saturday," city police chief Insp. Gen.
Makbul Padmanagara said.
Most of the 338 suspects had been arrested while they were
taking drugs or drugs were found in their houses or hotel rooms.
During the operations, the police also confiscated 15,222
ecstasy pills, 494 grams of shabu-shabu (crystal
methamphetamine), 1,163 lexotan pills, 211.5 kilograms of
marijuana, 240 grams of heroin and 315 grams of cocaine.
The police also raided entertainment spots and arrested 50
suspects, seizing 239 ecstasy pills and 1.9 grams of shabu-shabu
from them as evidence.
Makbul said that besides cracking down on drug trafficking
networks, the police have also organized some preventive programs
including staging antidrug campaigns at schools and drug-prone
areas.
The police are also planning a program called, Police Go to
Campus, from July to September.
The Center for Harm Reduction has estimated that there are one
million drug users and/or traffickers citywide.
The city police narcotics division chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Carlo
B. Tewu said the number of drug users in Jakarta had grown by
between 20 percent and 30 percent each year.
Data from the National Narcotics Body shows that an estimated
3.9 percent of the country's 220 million people, or about 8.58
million people, are drug users and/or traffickers.
Makbul called on the public to report any suspected drug
users, including their family members.
"If they are only drug users, we will help them to
rehabilitate. However, if they are drug traffickers, then we will
charge them," he said.
From the month-long operation, the police reported four major
drug hauls.
The latest arrest was made on June 24 at a house in Grogol,
West Jakarta, where the officers arrested Junaedi, Saiful Bahri
and Sutikno for possessing 190 kilograms of marijuana that was
ready for sale.
Three days earlier, the police uncovered an ecstasy syndicate
with a network that covers Malaysia and Jakarta, in a follow up
on an arrest in an entertainment spot in West Jakarta. In the
initial arrest, the detectives apprehended a 52-year-old
Malaysian citizen Cheng Yu Keng and Indonesians Yuniarsih
Tukiran, Ronald Yakup and Rusman Mangunsong.
From the four suspects, the police seized 9,660 ecstasy pills.
On June 8, the police arrested a suspected drug dealer
identified as Mike Ameme Ifanyi of Nigeria at the Petamburan
Hotel in Central Jakarta for carrying 100 grams of heroine.
Police also arrested Djie Su Siang alias Sonia, 35.
Besides marijuana and ecstasy, which are quite commonly
trafficked, the police also apprehended an alleged dealer Ukih
alias Niko on June 7, who lives in Pluit, North Jakarta, for
possessing 315 grams of cocaine found in his home.
The police also seized 375 grams of shabu-shabu and 2,500
ecstasy pills from the house.