Police officers detained for bribes
Police officers detained for bribes
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Two middle-ranking police investigators from the antidrug
squad at the National Police Headquarters have been detained as
suspects for allegedly accepting bribes from drug dealers.
Head of the internal affairs division Insp. Gen. Yusuf
Manggabarani said on Friday that Comr. DM and Adj. Comr. GS had
been detained on Wednesday for allegedly abusing their authority
as police officers.
"Power abuse is a crime and also an indisciplinary action,
therefore we will investigate both cases at the internal affairs
level as well as at the criminal level," Yusuf said.
Although Yusuf did not specify what kind of power abuse the
two officers had committed, a source within the police said that
both of the officers had accepted bribes amounting to Rp 3
billion (US$300,000) from Benny Sudradjat, the owner of a giant
ecstasy factory that was raided in Serang, Banten, last week.
The two officers were allegedly caught with the money in their
possession while helping the suspect escape from the police raid.
Benny allegedly had on his person a large amount of money that he
gave to the officers so that they would not arrest him.
However, investigators from the antidrug division, along with
investigators from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), arrested
Benny along with 14 other suspects, including foreign nationals
from France, the Netherlands and China.
The factory contained around 62.4 tons of precursor
chemicals for producing crystal methamphetamine, locally referred
to as shabu-shabu, and 6.2 tons of precursor chemicals for making
ecstasy, as well as thousands of ecstasy pills and hundreds of
kilograms of methamphetamine ready for delivery to Hong Kong.
"The officers could face a disciplinary hearing soon and have
their cases tried in a public court for the criminal aspect,"
Yusuf said.
He further said that both of the officers were still
undergoing intensive questioning by the internal affairs
division.
Previously, one-star general Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko and
middle-ranking officer Sr. Comr. Irman Santoso faced a
disciplinary hearing and were detained for accepting bribes from
Adrian Waworuntu, a suspect in the high-profile Bank Negara
Indonesia (BNI) scandal.