"The two suspects were arrested on Jan 6 at around 9 p.m. local time after the BNN investigators found five packages of marijuana weighing more than 25 kilograms inside their van," Brig. Gen. Putu Gede Swastawa informed journalists here on Wednesday.
Risdianto and Haryono informed the BNN investigators that they were ordered by a prisoner of Kerobokan Penitentiary, only identified by his initials as RZ, he noted, adding that the packages of cannabis were sent by someone in Medan, North Sumatra Province.
The BNN officers arrested the two suspects in a raid on Jan 6 at a car park of a delivery service in Sanur area of South Denpasar, Bali Province. The BNN officers found the five packages of marijuana inside their white van, he remarked.
The agency`s investigators will uncover the case by questioning RZ, who had ordered the two suspects to take the packages, while Risdianto and Haryono confessed to have acted as the courier and seller of the drug, he remarked.
The modus operandi that this drug ring applied was sending the packages through a delivery service. However, those from the delivery service tipped off the BNN officers on the drug packages, he remarked.
The BNN officers charged the suspects of violating point 2 of Article 114 and point 2 of Article 111 of Law Number 35 of 2009 on Narcotics, with maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, he noted.
"BNN`s success in confiscating around 25 kg of marijuana has saved around 2,500 youths in Bali Island," he added.
With millions of drug users and a huge population, Indonesia has been perceived by both local and transnational drug dealers as one of their potential markets in Southeast Asia.
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) noted that some 50 Indonesians die of illicit drugs every day, while the total number of drug users in the country has reached seven million.
According to Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the former coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs, the value of drug trades in Indonesia is estimated to have reached at least Rp66 trillion, where 75 percent of the drug trafficking may be directed from inside the prison.
Reporting by Made Surya and Naufal Fikri Yusuf, Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
