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.