Six arrested for possessing and dealing drugs

JAKARTA (JP): City anti-narcotics detectives have arrested two university students for possessing heroin and four alleged marijuana dealers in the past few weeks.

The police seized six grams of heroin and 56.5 kilograms of dried marijuana from the suspects, officer-in-charge of the anti- narcotics unit, Lt. Col. Panusun Samosir Pakpahan, said yesterday.

Heroin costs around Rp 200,000 (US$85) a gram and dried marijuana costs around Rp 1 million a kilogram on the streets of Jakarta. Marijuana is five times cheaper in Sumatra, where it is normally grown.

The suspects were arrested following public tips, said Pakpahan.

The two university students were arrested on Sept. 25, in the evening, at a house they rented at Jl. Tebet Timur Dalam VI-E No. 40 in Tebet Timur, South Jakarta.

Police identified the two suspects as Hanny M. Kalesaran, 24, a student of ITI (Institute of Technology of Indonesia) Serpong in Tangerang, and Ahmad Setya Sulaksana, alias Sony, 24, from Gunadarma University in South Jakarta.

Four detectives led by First Lt. Sigit Gumantio found nothing at the house until they searched the suspects, Pakpahan said.

On Hanny, the police found two grams of heroin, a tube and two telephone cards. On Sony, they found four grams of heroin and two phone cards, the officer said.

The phone cards, Pakpahan said, were allegedly used by the two students to sort their heroin before snorting it.

"We're in the dark about the source of the heroin because the two claimed that they got it for free from an unidentified man," Pakpahan said.

The first of the four alleged marijuana dealers was arrested on Sept. 4 shortly after disembarking a ship from Medan in North Sumatra.

Officer Pakpahan said that Rudy, 26, was arrested by undercover detectives with 15 kilograms of marijuana in his baggage while getting into a taxi at Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta.

Rudy, a resident of East Jakarta, said during questioning that the marijuana belonged to a stranger, who asked him to deliver it to someone in Jakarta.

"We know he's lying because he later claimed that he had no idea about the delivery address in Jakarta," Pakpahan said.

The second alleged dealer, Wilma Laden, 30, was arrested on Oct. 10 with 1.5 kilograms of dried marijuana at his house on Jl. Cempaka Putih Barat in Central Jakarta.

The other two alleged drug dealers were apprehended on Oct. 16 after police found 25 kilograms of marijuana at their house in Ciracas, East Jakarta, a day earlier.

They were identified as Asran, 30, and Zulfitri, 28, said Pakpahan.

Preliminary police investigations have revealed that Zulfitri allegedly brought the drugs to Jakarta by bus from Aceh, the northern tip of Sumatra.

"He admitted that he bought the marijuana from a farmer for Rp 200,000 per kilogram," said Pakpahan.

Without citing figures, the officer said that drugs trafficking and consumption in the city has rapidly increased over the past few years.

"We urgently need the public to inform us so that we can arrest the dealers and the drug users," said Pakpahan.

Police records say that most of the marijuana sold here comes from Sumatra, while the heroin comes from the Golden Triangle in East Asia. (bsr)