Police destroy 209 kgs of marijuana

JAKARTA (JP): Along with ulemas and anti-drug activists, city police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi destroyed on Friday 209.8 kilograms of marijuana confiscated from two separate raids on a single day in March.

Flanked by three ulemas attired in traditional white clothes, Nurfaizi burned several kilograms of the dried ganja (marijuana) in a half-cut drum in the parking lot in front of the police detectives office.

They were followed by other ulemas, senior police officers and activists from the People Against Drugs Movement (GERAM) who ceremonially burned the remaining narcotic.

According to Police Detectives Chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, his men actually seized 219.8 kilograms from the March 13 operation. The other 10 kilograms were kept as evidence.

"The marijuana is premium quality," Alex said.

The drug, he said, was confiscated in raids at a place on Jl. Taman Buaran III in East Jakarta and Kranggan Gunung Putri village in Bogor, West Java.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, his men also arrested several people possessing of a total of 154.4 grams of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), 14.4 grams of heroin, and 212 ecstasy pills during five raids in Central and West Jakarta.

" We made the arrests based on tips from locals, who alerted us to drug transactions to occur at those places," Alex said. (08)