The suspect, identified as DE alias WIS, was nabbed at his house in the Pasar Baru neighborhood of Sei Tualang Raso Subdistrict, Tanjungbalai City, on December 28, 2023, the North Sumatra Police spokesperson Senior Commissioner Hadi Wahyudi said on Saturday (Jan 6).
"He is currently under police custody for further investigation," said Wahyudi.
The cops received a tip-off about DE's drug packages from residents. Police then raided his house on December 28, 2023, and found nine kilograms of crystal meth and some 20 thousand ecstasy pills, he said.
The police investigators continue to strive to uncover DE's drug ring, Wahyudi said, adding that combating drug abuse and trafficking remains the North Sumatra police's priority.
According to Wahyudi, as part of its drug smuggling prevention, the North Sumatra police would continue strengthening its surveillance operations at seaports and airports in the province.
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, according to the Director of the National Police's Narcotics Investigation Division, Brigadier General Mukti Juharsa.
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.
Related news: 93 new narcotics entering Indonesia from Mexico: BNN
Translator: M.Sahbainy N, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Bayu Prasetyo
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