The death penalty demand was conveyed in their case dossier that the local prosecutors had completed, the Riau Islands Prosecutor's Office spokesperson, Yusnar Yusuf, told journalists here Friday.
The suspects, identified as RN, SD, and GF, were apprehended while traveling on a ship named "Legend Aquarius Singapore" to Surabaya, East Java.
The ship was inspected by a joint team from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and their counterparts in Riau Islands, as well as those from the local Customs and Excise Office in the Pongkar waters of Karimun District, Riau Islands, on Saturday (July 13, 2024).
In conducting their drug trafficking operation, the suspects concealed the crystal meth package inside a modified fuel tank to deceive officers who inspected the ship, he said.
The suspects told Indonesian investigators that they obtained the drug package from a Malaysian citizen named "Riki”, to be then transported to and traded in Australia, Yusuf revealed.
Riki, being hunted down by the Indonesian security officers, paid the three Indian drug smugglers around one hundred thousand Singapore dollars for transporting the drug package, he said.
To handle the case, the prosecutors continue to coordinate with their counterparts from the province's National Narcotics Agency (BNNP), he said, adding that the suspects are charged under Law No 35 of 2009 on Narcotics in which they can be sentenced to death.
"The Riau Islands Prosecutor's Office is fully committed to the Indonesian Government's war on drugs. To this end, we firmly stand up to fight against drug lords and offenders," he added.
As reported earlier, Indonesia remains vulnerable to transnational drug trafficking operations. On October 6, 2024, for instance, a female suspect, with the initials BR, was arrested at Soekarno Hatta International Airport, Banten, for smuggling 2,366 grams of cocaine en route from Brazil to be sold in Australia.
In addition, drug lords still perceive 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 about Rp66 trillion (around US$4.3 billion).
Hence, Indonesia has seen drug addiction spiral into a life-threatening problem for millions of its people.
Former Vice President Ma'ruf Amin alone marked the UN Day in 2021 by drawing the collective attention of Indonesians to the grave threat posed by drug crimes to the country.
Amin cited the results of a survey conducted by the BNN and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), which has pegged the number of drug users in Indonesia at 3.4 million.
Referring to the survey, Amin noted that around 180 of every 10 thousand Indonesians, aged between 15 and 64 years, have fallen prey to drug addiction.
He warned that the nation is not only seeing a vast number of drug users in the productive age group but is also being challenged by massive drug trafficking operations.
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Translator: Laily R, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Bayu Prasetyo
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
