The suspects were only identified by their initials as RZ and IS, Chief of Jambi Police's Narcotics Investigation Division Adjunct Senior Commissioner Nukmansyah told local journalists here, Monday.
The suspects are the residents of Aceh Province, he remarked, adding that they were paid Rp20 million for transporting the crystal meth package.
Both RZ and IS told police investigators that they had transported the drug packages twice to be traded in Jambi Province, Nukmansyah noted.
The local cops' success in foiling the suspects' attempt to trade the seven kg of crystal meth had saved at least 35,196 residents, as one gram of crystal meth could be consumed by five people, he added.
Domestic and transnational drug dealers consider Indonesia to be 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 surge.
The National police recently claimed to have crippled the drug rings of Fredy Pratama, a drug lord hunted down for trafficking 10.2 tons of crystal meth and 116,346 ecstasy pills in Indonesia from 2020 to 2023.
Over the past three years, the police had uncovered 408 drug cases related to Pramata's network and arrested 884 suspects, Director of the National Police's Narcotics Investigation Division Brig. Gen. Mukti Juharsa stated.
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.
Translator: Tuyani, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Azis Kurmala
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
