The suspect, identified as M.Rizal (34), is a resident of North Aceh district in Aceh province, North Sumatra police spokesperson Senior Commissioner Hadi Wahyudi informed on Tuesday.
Rizal was nabbed on August 26, 2021 in a raid connected with a drug-trafficking network. The raid was launched after local cops received information that a man named "Wanda" was providing crystal methamphetamine or "sabu-sabu" to buyers, Wahyudi said.
To probe the drug trafficking network, undercover police officers negotiated a deal for a crystal meth package with Wanda, he informed.
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The undercover police officers and Wanda agreed to meet in Tebing Tinggi city, about 78 km away from Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, he said.
However, Wanda did not show up at the meeting point, but sent a courier in a van. The undercover police officers arrested the drug courier, who was later identified as M.Rizal.
Rizal told investigators that he did not know the man from Tanjung Balai city in North Sumatra who had asked him to deliver the drug package to Tebing Tinggi city, Wahyudi said.
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The suspected drug courier is currently under police custody, while a hunt has been launched for Wanda and the resident of Tanjung Balai city, he added.
Indonesia remains under grave threat from drug dealers, with scores from its working-age population trapped in a vicious circle of drugs.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck the country on March 2, 2020, drug lords have continued to pose a serious threat to the country with drug-trafficking rampant even amid the health crisis.
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Since his first leadership term, President Joko Widodo has been reminding the nation of the serious impact of drug consumption on Indonesia.
While inaugurating a grand mosque in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on January 20, 2015, he had warned that at least 50 people were dying of drug abuse every day.
The statistics included those who failed to get rehabilitated, he stated.
According to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), the deaths have failed to deter drug users in the country.
The users of crystal methamphetamine, narcotics, marijuana, and other types of addictive drugs come from different communities and socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
Citing the result of a survey by BNN and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), vice president Ma'ruf Amin said that Indonesia has over 3.4 million drug users.
The survey has shown that about 180 out of every 10 thousand Indonesians, aged between 15 and 64, have been pushed into drug addiction, he noted.
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Translator: Munawar M, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
