Pekanbaru, Riau (Antara news)- The Riau Narcotic Agency (BNN Riau) seized three kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and 1,560 ecstasy pills in Kampar District and Pekanbaru City, Riau Province, on Saturday.

"Yes, thats right, three kilograms of methamphetamine and over 1,500 ecstasy pills," Adjunct Senior Commissioner Haldun of the BNN Riau said here, Sunday.

During the operations, three women and two men were arrested for drugs trafficking, he added.

They were suspected of being members of an international drug syndicate, he noted.

"We are still hunting suppliers of the illicit drugs," he remarked.

Drug abuse, which is spiraling out control, has put Indonesia in a state of emergency, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has repeatedly said.

Some 30 to 50 people die daily from drug abuses, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan revealed in Bandung, West Java March 18.

"Drug abuse in Indonesia is worse than terrorism," the minister said, adding that the number of drug users has reached 5.9 million in the country.

The country has 4.5 million drug addicts who need rehabilitation. Some 1.2 million drug addicts are in such dire straits that even rehabilitation is no longer an option for them.

Nearly 75 percent of those convicted for drug trafficking still manage their businesses from jails, he affirmed.

Indonesia is one of the few countries that have the harshest drug laws in the world.

In 2015, the Attorney Generals Office had executed 14 death row inmates, mostly foreigners.

On January 18, 2015, six death row inmates were executed in Nusakamangan and the Mobile Brigade Headquarters in Boyolali, Central Java.

On April 29, eight death row inmates were executed. They included two Australians, two Nigerians, and one Indonesian.

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(T.SYS/A/F001/F001) 20-03-2016 10:54:19

Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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