On the day the drug package was found, local cops attempted to apprehend a suspected drug dealer, identified as IR, 47, but he managed to evade arrest, Asahan Police Chief Adjunct Sen. Coms. Putu Yudha Prawira remarked.
IR was arrested four days later near a golf course in the Bunut Barat neighborhood of Kota Kisaran Barat Sub-district, Prawira noted in a statement that ANTARA quoted in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra Province, on Tuesday.
Currently, the police are still looking for four other suspects, while IR has been charged with violation of articles 114 and 112 of Indonesia's 2009 Anti-Narcotics Law, and if found guilty, can face death penalty or life imprisonment.
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Asahan District remains vulnerable to drug trafficking. On August 28, 2021, the local police officers arrested NT, 39, on the Kisaran-Air Joman road section of Karang Anyer Village in Kisaran Timur Sub-district.
The cops seized 28 kg of crystal methamphetamine from the resident of Sei Tualang Raso Sub-district, Tanjungbalai City, North Sumatra, during a raid at his house on August 27, 2021, but he managed to escape.
NT told police investigators that he worked with two people in the drug trafficking operation while his role was to keep the drug package safe at home, according to Putu Yudha Prawira.
Indonesia remains under grave threat from drug dealers, with scores from its working-age population trapped in a vicious circle of drugs.
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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.
Since his first leadership term, President Joko Widodo has been reminding the nation of the serious impact of drug consumption on Indonesia.
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: Nur ABS, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
