"The total number of ecstasy pills seized and tested in our laboratory is 207,529, which is valued at Rp207.52 billion," Brigadier General Eko Hadi Santoso, director of narcotics crime at the Police's Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim), stated here on Monday.
He added that the seized drug pills potentially rescued up to 207,529 people from illegal drug exposure.
The case started from the discovery of a black car involved in an accident at kilometer 136 of the Trans-Sumatra toll road in Lampung province on Thursday (November 20).
According to Lampung Police's public relations unit chief, Senior Commissioner Yuni Iswandari, toll road officers found the wrecked car abandoned by its owners.
However, when the officers inspected the area around the crash site, they found suspicious packages believed to have come from the wrecked vehicle.
“Toll road staff alerted both military and police units, including the road patrol. When our team arrived to inspect the packages, we opened them jointly and found 34 pouches of suspected drug materials,” Iswandari said.
The pouches were discovered inside a large blue bag, which contained five smaller bags: three brown bags, one red, and one blue bag, she stated.
Meanwhile, Santoso stated that his agency has taken over the crime investigation from the Lampung Police to expedite the process, especially after investigators found indications of cross-province drug smuggling activities from the case.
"The crime requires expedited investigation -- hence its takeover by the higher unit -- as we suspect the involvement of a cross-province network in this case," the brigadier general remarked.
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Translator: Nadia Putri R, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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