The suspects, identified as AP and AW, are in custody, while police continue to investigate the alleged involvement of a local resident, identified as AL, Head of Riau Police's Narcotics Division, Sen. Coms. Putu Yudha Prawira stated.
AP and his female partner, AW, were apprehended in a neighborhood of Bungaraya Sub-district, Siak District, Riau Province, at about 12:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, June 15, Prawira stated here Friday.
The crystal meth package was confiscated near the Rumbai Lembah Damai sports hall in Rumbai Pesisir Sub-district, Pekanbaru, following AW's arrest, he stated, adding that AP has been named a primary suspect in the drug case.
Before his arrest in Siak, AP managed to evade police attempting to arrest him shortly after unloading the drug package from a vehicle used for transportation, according to Prawira.
The suspect told police investigators that he received the crystal meth package from AL to be delivered to AL's drug rings. Before his arrest, he had transported AL's packages twice, Prawira revealed.
"AP said he received Rp10 million for transporting the drug packages," he remarked, adding that AW, who was arrested at the location where the drug package was unloaded, admitted to being paid Rp5 million.
As reported earlier, drug lords still view Indonesia as a lucrative market due to its large population and millions of drug users. The value of the country's drug trade is estimated at around Rp66 trillion (around US$4.3 billion).
Hence, Indonesia has seen drug addiction spiral into a life-threatening problem for millions of its people.
A survey conducted by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) pegs the number of drug users in Indonesia at 3.4 million.
As per the survey, around 180 out of every 10 thousand Indonesians, aged between 15 and 64 years, have fallen prey to drug addiction.
Translator: Bayu AA, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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