Hadi and Nunung have known each other since a year, and Hadi was introduced to her by one of Nunung's relatives
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Popular female comedian Tri Retno Prayudati, known as Nunung Srimulat, was introduced by a relative a year ago to Hadi Moheriyanto, alias TB, who allegedly supplied her with crystal methamphetamine, a police officer said Wednesday.

"Hadi and Nunung have known each other since a year, and Hadi was introduced to her by one of Nunung's relatives," Head of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police's Narcotics Unit Adjunct, Senior Commissioner Jean Calvijn Simanjuntak, told journalists here. Simanjuntak, however, did not elaborate on the identity of Nunung's relative.

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Police investigators discovered this information after Nunung’s confession in her dossier that she had started ordering the crystal meth from TB six months ago, Simanjuntak said.

The police have named Nunung and her husband, July Jan Sambiran, as well as Moheriyanto, as suspects in connection with the case, and charged them with violating Indonesia's Law Number 35/2009 on Narcotics.

They will be sentenced to five years in jail if they are found guilty.

The anti-narcotics squad of the police had received tip-offs from the public on Moheriyanto’s drug ring, Simanjuntak said.

Mohenriyanto was arrested and it led the police investigators to inspect a house, which was then known to be Nunung’s house. The police are still on the lookout for another suspect identified as E, he said.

Indonesia's world of entertainment remains vulnerable to drug cases as partly observed from the arrests of Nunung and her husband on July 19, 2019.

The police investigators confiscated 0.36 grams of crystal methamphetamine during a raid on Nunung’s house in the Tebet area of South Jakarta Friday.

These two arrests have only added to the list of Indonesia's artists who have been nabbed in drug cases.

Indonesia remains under 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 that said some 50 Indonesians die of drug use every day has not deterred 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.

Therefore, Indonesia is perceived by both domestic and transnational drug dealers as a potential market due to its huge population and millions of drug users. The value of the drug trade in the country is estimated to have reached nearly Rp66 trillion.

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Translator: Ricky P, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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