Sutanto orders crackdown on gambling dens
Sutanto orders crackdown on gambling dens
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Newly installed National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto has given a
one-week deadline for regional police chiefs to eradicate
gambling activities in their respective areas during a meeting
held on his first day at work on Monday at the National Police
headquarters.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said
that Sutanto had instructed provincial police chiefs to close all
gambling houses and arrest anyone involved in the illegal
practice.
"Regional police chiefs or officers who don't comply with
police chief's command would face legal processes," Aryanto said,
quoting Sutanto's words during the meeting with regional police
chiefs across the country.
Aryanto added, police chiefs who failed to clean up their
respective areas within a week would be given warnings and
possibly replaced. Each provincial police chief signed a contract
with Sutanto to achieve this purpose.
His statement came amid allegations that some 14 regional
police chiefs were involved in protecting gambling operations.
Sutanto's tough policy against gambling was not surprising as
he had been known for being tough against the crime when he was
posted as chief of police in North Sumatra and East Java.
The four-star general, who was head of the national narcotics
agency (BNN) before being appointed as national police chief, has
also vowed to fight drug trafficking in Indonesia.
Indonesia is known as a haven for both for drug addicts and
traffickers.
"There are around 20 tons of illegal drugs circulating in this
country every month as we know that there are around 720,000 drug
users and each of them use around 100 milligrams of drugs each
day," Aryanto said.
Apart from drugs and gambling, Sutanto also urged police
investigators to quickly finish processing graft cases that are
currently being handled by National Police headquarters.
There are many unresolved graft cases being handled by the
fraud squad at National Police headquarters including the case
involving the now-defunct Bank Global, whose top officials have
fled abroad, and also a graft case at the State Logistics Agency
(Bulog).
As for terrorism, Sutanto has ordered investigators and
regional police chiefs to cooperate in capturing terrorist
suspects including Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M. Top, who are
Malaysian nationals and allegedly the masterminds of a series of
bombing incidents in Indonesia.
Aryanto added that the new police chief also planned to fix
recruitment processes in the police academy and to increase the
quality of recruits entering the police force.