"Marijuana is a dominant drug traded in campus areas," Chief of the West Jakarta Metropolitan Police's Narcotics Investigation Unit Adjunct Commissioner Ahmad Ardhi stated here on Wednesday.
For trading marijuana, big drug dealers recruit students and graduates of the targeted universities in their drug network, he remarked, adding that the big dealers usually hold at least five kilograms of cannabis.
In the meantime, small drug dealers in Jakarta have a stock of 20 to 30 small packs of cannabis. The stocks of marijuana that they receive are generally supplied by drug rings in Aceh Province, he remarked.
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The cannabis was not imported but rather transported from Aceh to Jakarta aboard vehicles. In 2018, the West Jakarta Metropolitan Police's anti-drug squad members had confiscated 1.3 tons of dried marijuana smuggled by a truck from Aceh, he noted.
When the police investigators uncovered this drug case, they found that the marijuana was concealed among goods that the truck carried and inside its spare tires. However, if this supply of cannabis were to have reached the drug dealers, they would have placed it into small packs.
"One gram of marijuana is sold to students at Rp250 thousand and Rp300 thousand. This small drug package is distributed to the networks of targeted universities' graduates and active students," he stated.
Students and graduates, without jobs, become small drug dealers at their university campuses. These unemployed graduates are eager to be recruited to be part of the drug ring owing to the huge financial benefits, he pointed out.
Indonesia remains under a serious threat from drug dealers, as several individuals from its working-age population have been trapped in a vicious circle.
The National Narcotics Agency's (BNN's) report of some 50 Indonesians dying of drug use daily has yet to deter drug users in the country from consuming these banned substances.
Users of crystal methamphetamine, narcotics, marijuana, and other addictive drugs are from across communities and from distinct socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
Hence, Indonesia, with its huge population and millions of drug users, is perceived by both domestic and transnational drug dealers as a potential market. The value of the drug trade in the country is estimated to have reached nearly Rp66 trillion.
In response to the illicit drugs that drug kingpins have smuggled into and traded in the country over the past few decades, the Indonesian government continues to apply harsh punitive action against them.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo had also issued shoot-at-sight orders against drug kingpins.
However, this has failed to deter drug traffickers, and they continue to treat Indonesia as one of their main markets even as Indonesian law enforcers continue to step up their fight against them.
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Andi Firdaus, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
