Police indifferent to fighting drugs

Police indifferent to fighting drugs

YOGYAKARTA: The provincial legislature blamed on Tuesday the
intensifying drug trade in the town on local police, whom they
accused of lacking initiatives to crack down on the dealers.

"Police have not yet performed well in clamping down the
distribution of illegal drugs. Yogyakarta has become one of main
destinations of drug trafficking in the country," legislator
Totok Daryanto from the National Mandate Party (PAN) told a media
conference after a hearing with Yogyakarta Police Chief Brig.
Gen. Dadang Sutrisno.

Totok was referring to the arrest of six police personnel who
were caught red-handed consuming shabu-shabu (crystal
methampethamine) in early September.

"How can the public trust the police if they are involved in
drug dealing," Totok said.

The police, three of them officers, had been questioned and
were facing a military tribunal, according to Dadang.

Dadang said police had completed an investigation into 33 drug
abuse cases up to Oct. 31 and had arrested 57 suspects. More than
160 grams of shabu-shabu, 27 grams of low grade heroin locally
called putaw, 20 kilograms marijuana, 280 ecstasy pills and 416
barbiturates pills had been seized. (44/emf)