Illicit drug transactions up 300% in 7 years

Illicit drugs transactions in Indonesia have increased by 300 percent over the past seven years, along with an increase in the number of drug trafficking networks operating here, an agency says.

“Between 2003 and 2010, [the number of reported transactions] increased 300 percent with Indonesia suffering total losses of Rp 3.7 trillion [US$410 million] because of this,” National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Gories Mere said in Yogyakarta on Thursday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Gories was citing data from BNN’s joint research with several local universities, including the University of Indonesia. The research was conducted in a number of large cities across the country.

To avoid further losses, Gories urged law enforcers to “consistently uphold” existing laws in their investigations, prosecutions and verdicts in regards to these crimes.

“Those who bring more than 5 grams of illicit drugs [into Indonesia] must be charged with the death sentence,” he said, adding that he hoped the death sentence could be handed down from this year onward.