Police shoot dead three suspected drug traffickers

Police shoot dead three suspected drug traffickers

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

South Jakarta Police shot dead three drug trafficker suspects on
Monday as a part of efforts to stamp out drug abuse and
trafficking.

The shootings increased the death toll of suspected drug
dealers to nine in the first month of an increased crack down,
since being initiated on Oct. 16.

"The suspects were allegedly members of an international drug
trafficking network operating in Thailand, Malaysia and
Indonesia," said South Jakarta Police detectives chief Comr.
Kusdiantoro.

The suspects were identified as Wily Wira alias Wili Kadut,
44; Akwan, 40; and Cheong Hoi Eng, 44, a citizen of the People's
Republic of China.

Police officers also seized 2.3 kilograms of shabu-shabu
(crystal methamphetamine) from three apartments in Roxy, West
Jakarta; on Jl. Juanda, Central Jakarta; and Pulo Mas, North
Jakarta. From an apartment in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta,
police also confiscated 11,000 ecstasy pills. The four apartments
had been rented by the suspects.

Police also arrested three girls, who allegedly worked with
the suspects, at an apartment on Jl. Juanda. Two of them, Song
Yang and Lou Qi, were identified as Chinese citizens.

It was the ninth major narcotics bust this year.

Kusdiantoro declined to provide details on the time and place
of the shootings. The suspects died instantly at the scene from
the gunshot wounds.

He only said that police had been carrying out surveillance on
the syndicate for a long time in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta and
Senayan in Central Jakarta.

"Those suspected drug dealers had arranged drug transactions
in several locations outside South Jakarta," he said, without
naming the locations.

According to Kusdiantoro, who is also the son-in-law of
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, the syndicate has been
smuggling drugs into the country using Chinese herbal medicine as
a cover.

"They also use Chinese women as the couriers to smuggle drugs
into Indonesia," he said.

South Jakarta Police Precinct chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ghufron had
said over the weekend that police had no other choice but to
shoot suspects attempting to flee.

However, some detectives in the narcotics unit, who requested
anonymity, said that they had been promised cash incentives for
shooting alleged drug dealers. They refused to give further
details.

Neither Kusdiantoro or Ghufron would directly confirm or deny
if shooting drug suspects was their policy in the renewed fight
against drug trafficking.

Neighboring Thailand's recent war on drugs in which some 2,275
drug suspects nationwide were shot and killed by police, may be
the example that police here are emulating, but unlike Thailand,
which made it a policy for police to shoot drug dealers,
Indonesia has not publicly announced such a policy. The Thai
anti-drug campaign drew widespread criticism from domestic and
international human rights activists.

Last month, police arrested an alleged member of an
international drug syndicate and seized 12,000 ecstasy pills and
two kilograms of shabu-shabu. The suspect, Indonesian citizen
Tony Taslim, was captured after police got information from Hong
Kong Police who had earlier nabbed Tony's mother Elizabeth Eng
and stepfather Herman Tanuwijaya. Hong Kong Police seized more
than 10 kilograms of shabu-shabu from the suspects.