Martin Tumbelaka, a member of the House of Representatives' (DPR) Commission III, said Astutik held a strategic role in a transnational operation that stretches from Golden Triangle suppliers and Golden Crescent routes to markets in East and Southeast Asia.
“Do not stop at one name. This arrest must be used to trace the entire chain — the suppliers, the logistics operators, the money launderers and the protectors. All of it must be exposed,” Tumbelaka said in Jakarta.
He said the government needs to strengthen intelligence analysis to track increasingly adaptive drug networks operating across multiple jurisdictions.
Tumbelaka added that Astutik’s links to the Fredy Pratama network show that major drug syndicates now overlap and reinforce one another, requiring investigators to break apart their structures simultaneously.
“This is not a small gang. Law enforcement must cut all their nodes, including the international financial flows that sustain their operations,” he said.
He added that Astutik’s arrest should serve as a momentum-building step for restoring public confidence in Indonesia’s national narcotics enforcement.
“The message is clear: the state is present, the state is pursuing them, and the state will not back down against international cartels,” he said.
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and the Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) of the Indonesian Armed Forces, with support from Cambodian police, arrested Astutik — also known as “Mami” — for her alleged role in the smuggling of two tonnes of methamphetamine tied to Golden Triangle networks.
Astutik, who is also wanted by South Korean authorities, was detained in Sihanoukville in western Cambodia. Following her arrest, BNN repatriated her to Indonesia via Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Tuesday (Dec. 2).
Astutik, also known as Paryatin, is now being questioned by narcotics investigators.
Related news: Interpol fugitive Dewi Astutik arrested in Cambodia drug raid: BNN
Translator: Bagus AR, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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