Two more ecstasy factories found

Two more ecstasy factories found

Eva C. Komandjaja and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Malang

Police have discovered two ecstasy factories in the East Java
towns of Malang and Banyuwangi, almost two weeks after a
successful raid on a huge plant in Serang regency, Banten.

During the latest raids on Wednesday, officers from the
National Police Headquarters and the National Narcotics Agency
(BNN) arrested five people allegedly running the drug factories.

Police are still hunting down a Ambonese Dutch national
identified only as Richard and his Indonesian partner, Hashim.
They would not explain the pair's role in the ecstasy ring.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said
on Thursday police were tipped by the Hong Kong Police about the
location of the two factories in East Java.

"The Hong Kong Police told us that they had information on
pill-making machines sent to Indonesia, therefore, the police and
the customs officers went to check on the delivery to find the
exact locations where the machines had been delivered," Aryanto
said.

The machines were discovered in two locations in Batu district
in Malang and in Ketapang district in Banyuwangi. The police
later arrested Siswo Prawiro, the owner of the two factories, and
his accomplices Satrio, Sugeng, Suparmin and Tomi.

Previously, the police raided a giant ecstasy plant in Serang,
believed to be Southeast Asia's largest ever found, which could
produce a million ecstasy pills a week with a street value of an
estimated Rp 100 billion (US$10 million).

During the police raid in Banten, which was led by National
Police chief Gen. Sutanto, the police discovered 62.4 tons of
precursor chemicals for making methamphetamine and 6.7 tons of
chemicals for ecstasy production. Police also seized thousands of
ecstasy pills and hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine ready
to be transported to Hong Kong

Aryanto said the Banyuwangi factory, although much smaller
than the one found in Serang, was capable of producing 12,000
ecstasy pills a day. The factory could earn up to Rp 28.8 billion
per month, Aryanto said.

The factory in Banyuwangi was built in February, using a
business license for a prawn farm under the name PT Ndaru Laut.
The other factory in Malang was ostensibly operating as a bird
breeding house.

The police confiscated several machines used to produce the
illicit drugs and other equipment from the Malang and Banyuwangi
plants but said they did not find any ecstasy pills or precursor
chemicals used to make the drug.

Neither did they have evidence linking the factories in Batu
and Banyuwangi to the Banten operation.

"We're still investigating the case now and we're currently
working with the U.S. DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and the
Australian Federal Police," Aryanto said.