Police seize 8,400 ecstasy pills

Police seize 8,400 ecstasy pills

National Police detectives have arrested the owner of a
clandestine drug laboratory which manufactured ecstasy pills by
the thousand on Jl. KH. Hasyim Ashari No. 29, KM 1, Cipondoh,
Tangerang.

The suspect, whom police identified as Ang Kiem Soei alias
Anche Tahir alias Kim Ho, 31, was arrested on Sunday. Pursued by
drug detectives since 1998, he is believed to hold both a Dutch
passport and an Indonesian identification card, which was
reportedly issued in Irian Jaya.

Police seized about 8,400 ecstasy pills from the laboratory,
along with illicit chemicals used in the making of the pills.

National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang
said in Jakarta on Monday that thousands of pills could be
produced in a day, and the takings from their sale in nightclubs
and discos could reach hundreds of billions of rupiah per month.

The laboratory, where Ang Kiem himself lived, had three main
rooms, which were all used to produce the pills.

The materials seized from the laboratory included
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which is Ecstasy in powder
form before it is made into a capsule or pill. MDMA is a
synthetic, psychoactive drug possessing stimulant and
hallucinogenic properties.

MDMA's effects last approximately between four and six hours.
Users of the drug say that it produces profoundly positive
feelings, empathy for others, elimination of anxiety and extreme
relaxation.

MDMA is also said to suppress the need to eat, drink, or
sleep, enabling users to endure two- to three-day parties.

Consequently, MDMA use sometimes resulted in severe
dehydration or exhaustion. It is most often distributed at late-
night parties called "raves," nightclubs and rock concerts. -- JP