According to BNN-Banten Office Head Brig. Gen. Rohmad Nursahid, the crystal meth package was confiscated from AY (30) and M (31), whom the agency's personnel arrested in Pasar Kemis, Tangerang District, on March 28.
During the raid, the BNN officers seized one kg of crystal meth from the suspects, but they then found another 21 kg of crystal meth at M's rented house, Nursahid revealed here, Wednesday.
M attempted to camouflage his drug trafficking operation by making his rented house as a place for buying and selling rice, he remarked, adding that the BNN officers found the meth package was packed in 19 bags.
AY and M told BNN investigators that the crystal meth package belongs to S (52) an inmate in the Tangerang Class I Penitentiary currently serving 20 years' imprisonment, he noted.
The crystal meth package was smuggled by the suspects from Malaysia into the Indonesian province of Aceh through sea. From Aceh, it was then transported by land to Banten Province, he said.
The suspects said they smuggled 33 kg of crystal meth from Malaysia to Aceh but several kilograms of that consignment had been trafficked in Indonesia. He stated that the lives of 84,278 people were saved as a result of the meth being confiscated.
Related news: West Kalimantan police destroy 15 kg of meth smuggled from Malaysia
Drug trafficking still poses a threat to several provinces in Indonesia since domestic and transnational drug dealers consider the country 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.
A joint survey conducted by 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: Police seize 31.8 kg meth from RI-Malaysia drug ring
Translator: Desi PS, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
