University students arrested on campus for drug trafficking

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police have arrested four people, two of them students of the Indonesian Christian University, while trying to sell drugs on campus at the University of Indonesia (UI) in Depok on Friday, a police officer revealed on Monday.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said that the two students, identified as Ahmad Gunawan, 25, and Melky Erlando, 25, along with Agus Bachtiar, 30, and Muhammad, 45, were involved in a drug transaction beside the lake near the campus rectorate.

The police found two kilograms of marijuana and four packages of shabu shabu (crystal methamphetamine) in their possession.

"The four are now being detained at the Depok Police detention center. Muhammad will be charged with using drugs," he said.

A security guard of the campus, Usman, alerted the police upon observing the four entering the campus bringing several packages.

The police also managed to apprehend several other drug dealers in two separate locations in Depok and Jakarta over the weekend.

Darmawan alias Iwan, 28, and Ryan Fahroni alias Pon, 21, were nabbed with three kilogram of marijuana on Jl. Margonda, Depok, on April 9 while waiting for their buyers.

Meanwhile, Ari Gunawan, 30, was arrested with 34 ecstasy pills in his possession on Sunday night at Omni Batavia hotel in West Jakarta while offering drugs to a visitor.

Tjiptono said that all of them would be charged under Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances and Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics, which carries a minimum punishment of five years imprisonment.