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nly days after breaking a major bootleg ring in the city, the Jakarta Police narcotics unit struck another jackpot this week by unraveling an international narcotics network planning to distribute illegal drugs on New Year’s Eve.

“The network was allegedly being controlled and its operations funded by two Nigerian convicts from inside the Nusakambangan Penitentiary [in Cilacap, Central Java],” unit chief Sr. Comr. Nugroho Aji Wijayanto told reporters on Thursday.

He said the police had arrested nine suspects, identified only as B.T.R., M.H.D., I.N.T., P.P.I., I.T., D.K., M.L., B.D.I., and T.H.S., in several raids in Jakarta and West Java over the past 11 days.

“The first raids were conducted in Kemayoran [Central Jakarta] and in Tangerang on Dec. 18, where we seized half a kilogram of crystal methamphetamine and 1,300 ecstasy pills,” Nugroho said.

The raids were conducted following two months of intensive investigation, he said.

During the follow-up investigation, the police discovered that those arrested during the Dec. 18 raids were part of a larger network.

Three other raids were soon conducted: one at the Kebon Nanas toll gate in Tangerang and another on Jl. Sampurna in Bandung , both on Dec. 26, and a third in Semar village, Cirebon , West Java , on Dec. 28.

The narcotics unit’s subdirectorate II head, Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Saputro, said that, all in all, they confiscated 16.3 kilograms of crystal meth, 700 grams of heroin, and 6,300 ecstasy pills during the raids.

“The confiscated narcotics are worth a total of Rp 28.92 billion (US$3.15 million),” he said.

The police also confiscated seven cell phones, one truck, four painting-covered wooden panels to conceal the crystal meth, two pieces of Indian sari cloth, and two bags.

“We suspect the heroin was shipped by air from India to Bandung, concealed within the sari cloths and bags,” Eko said.

Meanwhile, the crystal meth was purportedly sent from Iran to Malaysia, where it was then packed inside the wooden panels and smuggled to Aceh by sea, from where it was transported to Jakarta by trucks.

The ecstasy pills were allegedly smuggled in from the Netherlands, via Malaysia, to Medan and then on to Jakarta .

According to Nugroho, the drugs were allegedly planned to be distributed in Jakarta through Kampung Ambon, a community in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, notorious for its virtually untouchable underground network of drug dealers.

“We suspect the drugs would also have been distributed to Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, and Bali,” he said.

The suspects have been charged under the 2009 Narcotics Law and may face the death penalty if found guilty. A late-November report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) stated that transnational, organized criminal groups from Africa and the Middle East have expanded their operations to Indonesia in recent years, establishing a legion of drug factories.

Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), such as crystal meth, have been the drug of choice throughout Southeast Asia since the 1990s, replacing plant-based drugs, such as heroin, opium and cannabis, and posing a growing threat to security and public health. (mim)