"The suspect carried a bag containing some 55 thousand ecstasy pills," Central Jakarta Police Chief Senior Commissioner Komarudin told journalists here, Wednesday (September 27).
The suspect, identified as FA, was apprehended by the cops, who received a tip-off from the public about a drug trafficking operation in the Sawah Besar neighborhood area, Central Jakarta, he said.
FA told police investigators that he had transported three packages. In the first and second drug trafficking operations, he had carried five kilograms (kg) of crystal methamphetamine for each delivery, Komarudin remarked.
Meanwhile, on September 21, local cops had also arrested two drug traffickers, who brought more than 1.5 kg of crystal meth into Jakarta through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, he stated.
The suspects, identified as Z and SB, were arrested shortly after arriving at the airport at 8 a.m. local time from Medan, North Sumatra. They hid the illicit drug inside their footwear, he said.
The two suspects confessed to police investigators that they had been involved in seven drug trafficking operations by using the similar modus operandi, he revealed.
He claimed that the police's success in seizing the two ecstasy and crystal meth packages had saved at least 61 thousand people from getting dragged into drug crimes and addiction.
Police investigators have charged the three suspects of violating Articles 114 (2), 112 (2), and 132 (1) of Indonesia's Drug Law No. 36 of 2009.
If they were found guilty, they could be sentenced to death, he stated while thanking the public for assisting the police's war on drugs by giving tip-offs to local cops.
Domestic and transnational drug dealers consider Indonesia as a potential market due to its vast population and millions of drug users.
The value of drug trade in the country is estimated to have reached nearly Rp66 trillion, with the number of drug trafficking cases continuing to increase.
A joint survey conducted by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in 2019 pegged the number of drug users in Indonesia at over 3.4 million.
The survey conducted in 34 provinces indicated that about 180 out of every 10 thousand Indonesians in the age group of 15 to 64 years were addicted to drugs.
The users of crystal methamphetamine, narcotics, marijuana, and other types of addictive drugs can belong to any community and socioeconomic and cultural background.
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Translator: Nabil I, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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