Police raid in Bungur nets kilos of opium, marijuana
Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 07/16/2010 12:19 PM
The police seized 3.69 kilograms of marijuana and 1.3 kilograms of opium
in a raid last week in Bungur, Central Jakarta, says the city police’s
top narcotics cop.
One man, identified as MR, 32, was arrested in the raid by the Jakarta police’s narcotics division as the alleged local arm of an international opium syndicate in the country.
“We first received an information telling that said that the suspect was a marijuana dealer. When we raided his house, we never expected to find opium,” the division’s acting chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Krisno H. Siregar told a press conference.
The confiscated opium is worth Rp 1.1 billion (US$122,100) and the marijuana more than Rp 9 million, Krisno said.
Based on laboratory test and information from the suspect, the police believe that the opium was produced in Southwest Asia’s Golden Crescent area.
The Golden Crescent is comprised of sections of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan where a massive amount of opium has been produced. “The opium was made from a poppy species which can only grow in that area,” Krisno said.
The police are currently hunting for another suspect, identified as RD, an Indonesian, who is alleged to have managed opium deliveries for the overseas syndicate, Krisno said.
The street value of opium in Indonesia is more than Rp 900,000 per gram, according to police estimates. With the highest drug prices in the region, Indonesia has become an attractive market for both local and international drug syndicates.
Opium is extracted by making tiny incisions into the side of the poppy pods to obtain opium latex, which is a whitish and milky fluid which hardens into a brownish gum.
Pure opium is rare, and opium latex is often converted into more popular drugs, such as heroin or morphine, in laboratories
The National Narcotics Agency says there were 3.6 million drug users in Indonesia in 2008, a 16 percent increase from 2006.
More than 35,000 suspects were arrested in 28,382 drugs cases nationwide between January and November 2009.
