Rano Karno’s son nabbed in drug case

City police revealed over the weekend that they had arrested seven suspects in the past seven days for alleged drug abuse, including the adopted son of Banten Deputy Governor Rano Karno and a Bekasi police officer in Bekasi regency.

Rano’s adopted son, Raka Widyarma, 20, was arrested along with his friend Karina Andetia, at a house on Jl. Perkici Raya in Bintaro, South Jakarta, on March 6 for ordering five ecstasy pills online.

“The pills were bought from a seller known as PAJ based in Malaysia,” police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto told reporters on Sunday.

According to him, detectives from the police’s cyber crime sub-directorate have been assigned to track down the website where the transaction took place. Police investigation has found out that Raka and Karina accessed the sellers’ website from cell phones and not from laptops or computers.

Police has confiscated one Nokia cellphone, one iPhone, and one bank transfer receipt as evidence.

Both Raka and Karina have been charged with narcotics dealing under the 2009 Narcotics Law, and may have to face up to 20 years imprisonment and pay up to a Rp 10 billion (US$1.1 million) fine if found guilty.

Raka and Karina were arrested after officers of the Soekarno Hatta International Airport Police became suspicious over a small package that had just arrived from Malaysia through air cargo on March 4. X-ray scan found that it contained ecstasy pills.

The officers then disguised themselves as employees of a delivery company and delivered the package to its intended recipient, a resident of the Bintaro house named Irwan Imam, as written on the package.

Karina and Raka reportedly greeted the “couriers” at the Bintaro house, having no suspicion that they were actually police officers.

“They said that they had indeed been waiting for the package, that this Irwan person was not at home, and that he had told them to receive the package for him,” Rikwanto explained.

“To the investigators they said that Irwan Imam does not exist and was just a ploy they came up with to avoid legal entanglements, should the authorities found out that the package contains narcotics.”

The airport police also arrested three residents of Cipete, South Jakarta, and a resident of Manado, North Sulawesi, for their alleged involvement in a similar crime.

From the man in Manado, identified as MRJ, the police confiscated 16 pills alleged to be ecstasy. Police officers have also seized 300 nimetazepam pills, popularly known as happy five, from the men in Cipete, identified as DN, AR and PT.

“They were all arrested on March 6 for receiving packages of narcotics from Malaysia,” Rikwanto said, adding that all four had received charges similar to Raka and Karina and are also detained at the airport police office.

The police have also arrested Adj. Comr. HBS, formerly the chief of the Cibarusah precinct in Bekasi, for abusing crystal methamphetamine. Police detectives from the city police’s internal affairs division arrested him on Friday night and confiscated 0.87 grams of crystal meth as evidence.

“He has been demoted from his job and has been charged with drug abuse under the 2009 Narcotics Law,” Rikwanto said.

HBS would have to face public trial for his crime, he said. A 2003 governmental regulation on the dismissal of police officials stipulates that HBS may lose his job if he is found guilty and sent to jail.