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.