Police favor death for drug dealers

Police favor death for drug dealers

JAKARTA: National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has
encouraged judges to pass death sentences on major drug dealers
as a better deterrent to halting the illicit trade.

"I am glad to hear that more and more major drug offenders get
death," Da'i said after swearing in Comr. Gen. Nurfaizi as the
new chief of the National Coordinating Body for Narcotics (BKNN).

Most death sentences for drug dealers have been handed down by
Tangerang district court, Banten. The court has sentenced at
least 14 criminals, mostly foreigners, to death over the past two
years.

Most of them were arrested at Soekarno-Hatta airport as they
attempted to smuggle drugs into the country from Pakistan, India
and Thailand.

Da'i, who was a former BKNN chief till President Megawati
Soekarnoputri appointed him police chief late last year, said he
hoped that the agency would be armed with greater powers to allow
it to better coordinate with police.

The BKNN has planned to improve public participation in the
fight against drug trafficking, which has become one of the most
serious social problems.

According to Da'i, narcotics-related cases had nearly doubled
in the past few years while the number of addicts had increased
45 percent.

BKNN officials put the number of drug addicts at about 2.4
million out of a total Indonesian population of 210 million
people.

Nur Faizi said that Association of Southeast Asian Nation
member countries (ASEAN) had agreed to cooperate to make the
region drug-free by 2015.

"It needs a major effort involving all spectrums of society to
make the ASEAN dream come true," said Faizi, a former Jakarta
city police chief. -- Antara