Most of the entry points were in small ports and illegal land routes such as in Kalimantan, Riau Islands and Riau Province."
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) on Wednesday stated that Riau was extremely susceptible to international drug trafficking and might grow as an entry point of drug smuggling.

"There are some factors, the first is the strategic geographic location of Riau Province, close to some neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore," Head of the Riau Province office of BNN Senior Commissioner Police Bambang Setiawan said here Wednesday.

Setiawan said drug traffickers often made Riau as a transit area and smuggling route for drug trade to some area in Indonesia, especially in Sumatra and particularly in Riau.

"This condition is so much troubling and we need to work hard for this matter," Setiawan said.

Thus, the participation of all society and institutions was needed as the joint operation of BNN with the Police and the Custom would not be enough to cut the link of drug trafficking, Setiawan said.

Previously, The National Narcotics Agency said that there were thousands of drug`s trafficking entry points spread across some Indonesia`s border areas.

"Most of the entry points were in small ports and illegal land routes such as in Kalimantan, Riau Islands and Riau Province," BNN Information Director Gun Gun Siswandi said during his visit in Pekanbaru.

Drug traffickers use Kalimantan especially to smuggle drugs through illegal land routes.

While some illegal ports in Riau were suspected to be used by international drug syndicates to smuggle their drug to Indonesia, Siswandi said.

However, the government cannot put all of the entry points under surveillance that made Indonesia susceptible to drug trafficking from the neighboring countries.

BNN also reported that the number of drug addicts in Indonesia has tended to increase in the past years.

"Based on a survey by BNN, the number of drug addicts rose from 3.8 million in 2008 to 4.2 million in 2011," BNN Director of Law Affair and Deputy of Cooperation Tyaswening said.
(T.A059/F001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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