Police raid ecstasy factory in West Jakarta
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Police said on Monday they had discovered and raided an ecstasy and shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) factory hidden in a two-story shop-house on Jl. Bedugul, Blok IA, in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.
City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said two men were arrested at the factory and 82,570 ecstasy pills were confiscated during the raid on Friday.
The number of pills confiscated is believed to be unprecedented in terms of evidence collected during a single drug raid.
The police also seized chemicals used to make ecstasy and shabu-shabu, including precursor, magnesium stearate, hydrochloric acid, caustic soda, acetone and methanol, as well as lab equipment like distillation equipment, pill press and scales.
The police believe the factory, which has an estimated production volume of 10,000 pills daily, was run by a large drug syndicate.
An ecstasy pill sells for Rp 50,000 (US$5.53) to Rp 120,000 on the streets, depending on the quality and availability.
The police launched a raid on Friday at about 3 p.m. on the factory, which was within a shop-house complex operated by Sastra Wijaya, 45, and Yuda, alias Akang, 33.
The police found 74,570 pills in the factory and another 7,500 at Sastra's house in Pademangan, North Jakarta.
Firman said the police were now looking for the factory owner, identified as BT. Police suspect that BT is related to Ang Kim Soei, the owner of an ecstasy factory in Cipondoh, Tangerang, who was arrested in April 2002.
BT was arrested in 1999 for possession of ecstasy but he was only sentenced to four months, which police said was inadequate.
Ang was sentenced to death by the Tangerang District Court for operating the factory, which had a production volume of about 150,000 pills per day. However, the police seized only 8,400 ecstasy pills from Ang's factory.
Ang has filed an appeal with the Tangerang High Court.
The first single largest ecstasy cache was seized in 1996, when the city police arrested "Queen of Ecstasy" Zarima Mirafsur with 29,677 ecstasy pills.