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Police destroy Rp 150b worth of drugs
Not for sale: Two anti-narcotics officers display more than 1
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Not for sale: Two anti-narcotics officers display more than 1.5 tons of marijuana, 4.2 kilograms(kg) of heroin, 10.3 kg of shabu-shabu, 35 liters of liquefied shabu-shabu and 163,949 ecstasy pills that were confiscated at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in May and June. The Rp 150 billion worth of illegal drugs were displayed publicly moments before they were destroyed at the airport. (JP/Multa Fidrus) (kg) of heroin, 10.3 kg of shabu-shabu, 35 liters of liquefied shabu-shabu and 163,949 ecstasy pills that were confiscated at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in May and June. The Rp 150 billion worth of illegal drugs were displayed publicly moments before they were destroyed at the airport. (JP/Multa Fidrus)
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span class="inline inline-none">Not for sale: Two anti-narcotics officers display more than 1.5 tons of marijuana, 4.2 kilograms(kg) of heroin, 10.3 kg of shabu-shabu, 35 liters of liquefied shabu-shabu and 163,949 ecstasy pills that were confiscated at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in May and June. The Rp 150 billion worth of illegal drugs were displayed publicly moments before they were destroyed at the airport. (JP/Multa Fidrus)
The Jakarta Police incinerated on Wednesday illegal drugs worth Rp 150 billion (US$15.09 million), seized in a series of raids during May and June.
The police burned the illegal substances in an incinerator belonging to state-owned airport management company PT Angkasa Pura I at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
City police narcotics division chief Sr. Comr. Nugroho Aji Wijayanto said the drugs included 1.5 tons of marijuana, 10.3 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, 163,949 ecstasy pills, 4.2 kg of heroine and 2.2 kg of ketamine among others.
'This incineration is part of the observation of Anti-Narcotics Day, which fell on June 26, and the 67th anniversary of the National Police on July 1,' he said.
According to Nugroho, by destroying the drugs, at least eight million lives had been saved.
He said the drugs had been seized in raids on drug dealers and users who had got them from Aceh, Medan in North Sumatra, and Jakarta.
'Besides Indonesia, the dealers and users also purchased drugs from Malaysia, Myanmar, China, Iran, Taiwan, and the Netherlands,' he said.
Meanwhile, according to Soekarno-Hatta airport police, the first half of 2013 saw 39 people arrested at the airport for smuggling drugs into the country.
'We confiscated 25 kg of illegal substances from January to June this year,' Soekarno-Hatta police narcotics division chief Adj. Comr Guntur M. Tariq said.
He added that most of the suspects came from China, who saw Indonesia as a profitable market for drug trafficking.
'In China, the price of drugs are way lower than in Indonesia,' he said. 'For example, 1 gram of crystal methamphetamine sells at around Rp 150,000 in China, while it can reach Rp 1.8 million to Rp 2 million here.'
Jakarta Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Sudjarno, who led the incineration, said that Indonesia had become a major market for international drug syndicates looking to distribute their illegal products.
'The vast territory of Indonesia, with its thousands of islands, makes it easy for anyone to come here,'
he said. 'The drug smugglers can land at many beaches and informal harbors that are not guarded by customs and excise officers, making it very hard for the police to spot them.'
He said that he hoped Indonesians would help eradicate the distribution of drugs by reporting any suspicious activities to the police.
'Any information from people is important,' he said. 'They can report their suspicions anytime by sending text messages to our online SMS system at 1717.'
He acknowledged, however, that many Jakarta Police officers also took drugs.
'Last year, we fired 99 officers, half of whom were using drugs,' he said, adding that the police would punish junkie cops under the police's ethic code.
He explained that the police had made some efforts, including rehabilitation, to eradicate the use of drugs from the force.
'In our rehabilitation center in Cikarang, West Java, for example, we have assigned the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers to help cure drug users,' he said. (ian)
