The police arrested the three women over their alleged involvement in a drug-related crime. They were identified by their initials as Y (52), I (45), and N (46). Y and I allegedly served as drug couriers, while N was a drug dealer.
"There is a possibility that the syndicate exists, and there is a possibility that other suspects are involved (in the syndicate)," head of the West Jakarta Police's Drug Investigation Unit, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Akmal, said at the West Jakarta Police Office on Thursday.
Housewives can prove reliable drug dealers as their presence would not arouse police suspicion, he explained.
Housewives facing economic difficulties are susceptible to drug dealing due to the high earnings offered by the syndicates, he noted while highlighting that suspects Y and I faced similar conditions.
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"They are economically weak, and the syndicates use (the housewives') weak economic conditions to recruit them by offering high earnings," Akmal said.
He confirmed that the three arrested housewives were not using drugs themselves.
Meanwhile, West Jakarta Police chief, Senior Commissioner Pasma Royce, informed that the operation to arrest the housewives began after the police received a tip about a 9.54-kilograms package containing crystal methamphetamine from Malaysia arriving in Pekanbaru, Riau.
Suspect N reportedly instructed I and Y to leave for Pekanbaru to retrieve the drug package and return to Jakarta, he said, adding that the suspects boarded an inter-province bus for the journey.
Officers from West Jakarta Police then arrested the three suspects at a hotel in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, on July 6, 2022, he said.
The police operation to arrest another suspect, identified as A, who allegedly handed the drug package to N, and the probe on drug distribution networks in Jakarta are still ongoing, Royce added.
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Translator: Walda Marison, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
