Two nabbed for trafficking in ecstasy pills

JAKARTA (JP): Police arrested two jobless men for allegedly trafficking ecstasy pills and crystal metamphetamine, known locally as shabu-shabu, in West Jakarta late on Wednesday night.

Newly installed city police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis told a media briefing on Thursday that the two were identified as Wiroto Cokro alias Alwi, 29, a resident of Mangga Dua Mas shop- house complex in West Jakarta, and Dharma alias Acik, 23, a resident of Kebun Jeruk in West Jakarta.

The arrest was made following a tip-off from a member of the public. Police were informed that the shop-house complex was frequently used as a rendezvous for drug traffickers, Lubis said. Police officers went to the complex immediately and arrested Wiroto at around 10 p.m.

"We seized 1,000 ecstasy pills which he (Wiroto) kept in his traveling bag," Lubis said.

During interrogation, Wiroto confessed that he was expecting a friend to meet him at the complex to complete a drugs deal.

"The second arrest was made an hour later in the parking area of the complex," Lubis said.

Police confiscated 100 grams of shabu-shabu worth an estimated Rp 14 million (US$1,555) from the second suspect.

The drugs confiscated from the two men could have fetched at least Rp 54 million on the streets of Jakarta.

The head of the city police narcotics unit, Col. Haji Abdullah, said the two suspects confessed to being traffickers during preliminary questioning.

However, police data lists the two as drugs suppliers.

"It's an old trick. They admit to being traffickers so that they get a lighter sentence. But we know that both are well-known figures in drugs circles in the city," he said.

He said the two men could be charged under Article 59 of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances, adding that the investigation would be extended in an attempt to snare the major suppliers who provided the two men with the drugs. (emf)