Police free 18 suspects in Nipam drug case
Police free 18 suspects in Nipam drug case
JAKARTA (JP): Eighteen of the 21 men and boys arrested when
police seized two million Nipam 10 pills at a drug-packing
factory last Thursday were released late Friday.
Police said Saturday the 18 suspects, including a 12-year-old,
were minor actors in the drug trade.
The factory, a two-story house at Taman Kota Bloc C3/3 in
Kebon Jeruk, was raided by police Thursday morning. They found
2.05 million packaged and loose barbiturate pills at the factory
which they had been watching for two months.
Police said the plant's supervisor A Tet, the driver Heriyanto
and the packaging supplier Hendrik were still in custody.
The 18 others must report to police weekly.
A Tet said he got his orders from Hendrik who supplied him
with plastic strips for drug packaging twice or three times a
week. He said Hendrik produced the strips at in his house at
Pantai Indah Kapuk, North Jakarta.
"Hendrik arranged my payments directly with A Kiong, who owned
the pills," A Tet, 60, told The Jakarta Post Saturday.
But a police source said A Tet had decided the design, color
and number of plastic strips made by Hendrik.
The chief of City Police Detectives, Col. Paimin Aboeamr, said
the shape and composition of the pills were perfect.
"Laboratory tests showed the pills contained only pure
ingredients. It would not be easy for an amateur to produce such
pills," he said.
Police are still hunting A Kiong, alias A Cek and Tek Seng,
who is believed to be the mastermind behind the Nipam 10
packaging factory. Police searched A Kiong's house Friday, where
they questioned his wife and children.
Police said A Kiong's wife had claimed that her aging husband
was in Singapore for medical treatment, while her son Haryono had
admitted knowing A Tet very well although he had said he had
nothing to do with the factory.
Cheap drugs
Although Nipam may only be sold by prescription at listed
pharmacies, it can be bought on the streets for about Rp 2,500
for a strip of 10 pills.
Second Lt. Surya Malindra, the head of the mobile team which
raided the plant, urged the government and parents to be more
aware of the drugs' effect on the nervous system.
"I plead for greater public awareness of these cheap drugs.
Don't underestimate the effect of the pills. A teenager could
kill a person without knowing it while he was on the pills,"
Surya told the Post, adding that elementary school students had
used Nipam.
Police said student brawls and other crimes had been related
to Nipam.
The instigators of two famous crimes last year had taken
Nipam: The intercity Kramatdjati bus driver, who was convicted
for killing 31 people, mostly his passengers; and the man who
raped a female patient at Pelni hospital in December. (04)