"The drug that has victimized people in all strata of the society, including politicians, artists and people from other professions, is the country`s biggest enemy. Therefore, the people should wage a massive battle against it," House Speaker Marzuki Alie said here on Monday.
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN), at 4 am on Sunday, arrested 17 people, including artists Raffi Achmad and Wanda Hamidah at Raffi`s home in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, for drugs abuse.
BNN deputy for prosecution Benny Mamoto said his agency had taken the 17 people into custody for questioning and examinations. "Five of them have tested positive for drugs. We will continue to investigate the others," BNN spokesman Snr. Comr. Sumirat Dwiyanto said.
Meanwhile, Saleh Partaonan Daulay, the General Chairman of a youth wing organization of the country`s second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, also called on all citizens of Indonesia to cooperate in preventing the circulation of drugs across the nation.
"It seems that BNN has so far been concentrating on arresting drug consumers, while big-time traffickers or croupiers remain at large. No wonder illegal drugs continue to be circulated in the country," he said in an SMS to ANTARA here on Monday.
Although Saleh Partaonan Daulay praised BNN for its success in arresting drug users across the country, he expressed regret that such efforts never led to the arrest of major drug traffickers.
However, the agency found that a new type of drug was also being currently distributed illegally in Indonesia.
The BNN discovered a new drug after conducting urine tests on Raffi Ahmad and his friends on Sunday. "Results of the tests showed that there is a new drug in town, which has already made its way to Singapore. We are studying the new drug," said BNN Laboratory`s head of technical implementation unit, Kuswardani, on Monday.
He noted that the discovered substance was `not yet classified as an item in Group I, II or III`.
According to Saleh Partaonan Dulay, the fight against drugs will be fruitless if the drug lords were not arrested. He said the BNN should have targeted the big dealers when tackling illegal narcotics circulation.
"It is the big dealers who destroy the morality of the nation and the future of younger generations," Saleh pointed out.
He stated that the circulation of narcotics in Indonesia were a matter of grave concern. In the past, drugs were circulated in big cities only for consumption among the middle and upper classes of the society. However, now the drugs are also being distributed in small cities for consumption by the lower-income people. The number of users has been increasing by the day.
According to Marzuki Alie, people from all sections of the society had fallen victim to drugs.
"The danger of narcotics can befall anyone now, no matter who she or he is, and no matter what profession he or she belongs to," he said at the Parliament building.
Marzuki stated that the fight against drugs should start from within and from the family.
"This fight against drugs should start from the smallest unit of our society - ourselves and our families," he said.
Marzuki pointed out that if the family could prevent a member from consuming narcotics, the danger of drugs circulation could be minimized.
"The victims of narcotics are not only politicians and artists but also university and school students. Drugs have affected people in all professions," the House Speaker said.
Moreover, the threat of drugs has further risen with the discovery of new drug types that are not yet listed under the law.
After Kuswardani`s team found a new type of drug, he said: "Law Number 35/2009 on narcotics does not cover the new drug. We will work closely with other agencies, including the health and trade ministries, and the drug and food control agency (BPOM)."
"Drug traffickers invented the new drug to escape the eyes of law enforcers. However, BNN is still questioning them. They are not allowed to go home," he added.
BNN`s Benny said the items seized on Sunday included MDNA powder capsules (ingredient: ecstasy pills) and rolls of marijuana.
"The officers arrested 17 people after many individuals complained about the parties being held at Raffi Ahmad`s home," he explained.
BNN spokesman Sumirat said five of the 17 people arrested at Raffi`s home tested positive for drugs.
"Two were found to have consumed marijuana, while two others consumed the ecstasy-type drug. The other one used both types (marijuana and ecstasy)," he noted.
BNN head Commissioner General Anang Iskandar said on Monday that his agency was still conducting a series of tests on the arrested people.
Meanwhile, Sumirat said: "We are still conducting examinations because they used a new drug. They used capsules which contained substance they mixed themselves. We are examining it at the laboratory."
He stated that his agency needed to conduct comprehensive tests to identify the substance used to manufacture the drug. "We need to know the type of the substance because they mixed many things up and put them into capsules," Sumirat added.
(A014/KR-BSR/H-YH)
Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
