"People must be involved in the campaigns to eliminate illegal drug."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Jakarta Police destroyed various types of previously confiscated illegal drugs worth Rp1.1 trillion near Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, in Tangerang, Banten province, on Thursday.
"The drugs are evidence (of crimes) and were confiscated in May and June 2012," said Narcotics Investigation Department Director of the Jakarta Police Senior Commissioner Nugroho Aji at the airport on Thursday.
He said that destroyed drugs consisted of 363 kg of crystal methamphetamine, 1,052,000 ecstasy pills, 118.27 kg of dried marijuana leaves, 194.05 grams of heroin, 1,203 grams of cocaine and 26,930 tablets of happy five.
The crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy and heroin came from Mexico, Iran, the Netherlands, China, Thailand, Mynamar, Malaysia and Indonesia while the dried marijuana leaves were distributed by a syndicate from the provinces of Aceh, Medan (North Sumatra) and Jakarta.
The suspects arrested over the past two months totaled 36, most of whom were foreigners.
Nugroho explained that in destroying the illegal drugs, police used high temperature incinerators so that they would not caused negative impacts on residents around the location.
In the meantime, Jakarta Police Chief Inspector General Untung S Rajab said police should have a high commitment to fighting the distribution illegal drugs.
"People must be involved in the campaigns to eliminate illegal drug distribution," he said.
Soekarno-Hatta Airport is the entry point used by the drug traffickers to smuggle in illegal goods into Indonesia.
Customs authorities at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport have since early this year caught 21 Indonesian citizens for attempting to smuggle drugs.
"Until June, we have arrested 26 suspects, including 21 Indonesian citizens," head of the airport`s customs and excise supervision and service office Oza Olavia said recently.
The other five suspects were from Malaysia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Sierra Leonean and China, he said.
Not all the Indonesian suspects were drugs traffickers but some of them were drugs couriers, he said.
"Most of the suspected drugs traffickers were foreign nationals. The Indonesian citizens only acted as drugs couriers though several of them were also drugs traffickers," he said.
All the suspects were handed to the police, while the drugs were handed to the police and the National Narcotics Board, he said.
As per July 24 estimates for the year, the customs and excise office also thwarted 19 drug-smuggling attempts, seizing 3,749 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 1,923.5 grams of cocaine, 56 grams of marijuana, 300 tablets of happy five, 41 ecstasy pills, and 1,040 grams of cocaine, worth Rp17.091 billion in total.
The figure has plunged from 24 cases witnessed in the same period last year, he said.
(Uu.A1014/INE/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
