Police seize 150 kgs of marijuana, arrest one

JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta Police detectives arrested a suspected drug dealer on Saturday night for possession of 150 kilograms of marijuana worth about Rp 300 million (US$40,000) at his rented home on Jl. Karya Utama in Gandaria Utara, Kebayoran Baru.

South Jakarta Police chief of detectives Maj. Rycko Amelza Daniel identified the suspect as Muhamad Beny, alias Sabri, from Aceh.

"He is a man of very few words. We're concentrating on making his wife talk instead," Rycko told The Jakarta Post.

"Sabri spent three years at the Cipinang penitentiary for the same crime from 1994 to 1997. He also sells spices in Bogor, but that's just a cover-up."

Six men were arrested on Friday on Jl. Jatipadang Raya 131, in Jatipadang, Pasar Minggu, for possession of 100 kilograms of marijuana.

The six led the police to the arrest of Sabri, suspected of being not only a drug dealer, but a wholesaler as well.

When arrested, Sabri said he had earlier gone to Bandung, West Java, to return a pen gun and a black sedan to his friends.

"When asked the names of his friends in Bandung, he said he did not remember their names. We became very frustrated with him," Rycko said.

"We found the pen gun in his house, while his wife told us that a friend of Sabri, identified only as Dim Dim, came over and picked up the sedan from the house on Friday. Sabri's such a liar."

He added that Sabri's wife had told him that Sabri had left for Bandung sometime on Wednesday.

Syamsul, one of the six men arrested in Pasar Minggu on Friday, was arrested at a garage in Jatipadang, which police say was used regularly by dealers to pick up drugs.

Syamsul led the police to arrest Simon, who then told them that Sabri was in Bandung.

Going undercover, police contacted Sabri on his cellular phone and asked him to meet them at the garage at 11 a.m. on Saturday. However, police waited till 6 p.m. and Sabri never turned up.

Upon further interrogation, Simon finally told police that Sabri had a home in Jakarta, on Jl. Karya Utama. Police arrived there at midnight and arrested Sabri.

In an unrelated development, Central Jakarta Police detectives arrested an alleged producer of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) tablets and two potential buyers at a hotel on Jl. Sukarjo Wiryopranoto in West Jakarta on Saturday.

"We had received information from local residents that shabu- shabu production was going on in a room at that hotel," Central Jakarta Police chief of detectives Capt. Hendra Suhartiyono said on Sunday.

The suspects were identified as dealer Supriyanto alias Aan, 28, and buyers Dewanda, 23, and Hani Rohanu, 22.

Upon raiding the room, police officers found 48 shabu-shabu pills, molding and branding equipment with a stamp of cartoon character Tweety and traditional stomach medicine Huang Len Su, among other things.

"Each of the 48 pills, retailing for Rp 40,000 each, had two colors, and bore the mark of Tweety. We believe the drugs were being distributed to young kids in hotels and discotheques here," Hendra told reporters.

Aan said he was a man with many debts, and all he did was mold the powder into pills. The equipment to mold them, he said, was supplied to him by his "boss", who is still at large.

"I only met him (his boss) three months ago. I used to buy pills from him and I worked for him because I could not pay for the pills I had consumed," Aan said.

He said his boss paid him Rp 50,000 a day and took care of the hotel bills.

"He taught me how to mold the pills. I molded some 50 pills daily," Aan said.

"I gave them all to my boss, who distributed them. So far I've made 200 pills."

The buyers, both girls, said they consumed the pills with friends in discotheques.

"The case has been transferred to the West Jakarta Police, for further interrogations," Hendra said.

Separately, Bekasi Police Detectives arrested a woman on Thursday for possession of 150 grams of heroin, worth about Rp 60 million, in raids at the Jatinegara railway station and the suspect's home in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta.

The suspect, identified as Dini Sawitri, 26, said she was a girlfriend of an African man, who had sent her to the station to meet a man and sell him 50 grams of heroin, Bekasi Police chief of detectives Capt. Illham S. Hasibuan said.

"We raided her house in Utan Kayu and found another 100 grams. We have been hanging around at a certain hotel on Jl. Sabang in Central Jakarta, where we hope to catch the suspect's boyfriend, who supplied her with the drugs," Illham said. (ylt/06)