W

est Kalimantan police officer Adj. Sr. Comr. Idha Endri Prastiono who was detained in Malaysia over his alleged involvement in an international drug trafficking ring, will soon stand trial in Indonesia for stealing a Mercedes-Benz, seized from a Malaysian drug dealer.

West Kalimantan Police chief Brig. Gen. Arief Sulistyanto said on Friday that Idha could face three to 20 years of imprisonment for violating multiple articles under the 2001 Corruption Law.

Last year, Idha, in his then role as subdivision head in the police'€™s narcotics investigation division, confiscated the car from Chiew Yem Khuan, alias Aciu, a Malaysian drug trafficker.

'€œIdha never returned the car, which we confiscated on Sept. 8. The car was originally registered under Malaysian plate number QRW. It has been changed to Jakarta plate number B 87 SD,'€ Arief said in Jakarta.

West Kalimantan Police also suspect that Idha assisted the escape of a convicted drug dealer, Abdul Haris, from a penitentiary in the provincial capital, Pontianak, on July 28.

Abdul, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a narcotics case, managed to flee while undergoing treatment for his tuberculosis outside the prison.

'€œHe was being treated at a hospital in Pontianak, and on July 28, he took the opportunity to escape. We are trying to ascertain if his escape was part of a conspiracy, or if he planned it alone,'€ Arief said.

Arief added that his investigators would interrogate Haris, who was recently recaptured in Jakarta, to try to reveal the alleged complicity of Idha in the prison break and Haris'€™ drug business.

In connection to Idha'€™s drug case, the police will question a further narcotics convict, identified only as Aloy.

'€œThis investigation is part of our attempt to uncover a drug cell and to clean the National Police, particularly the West Kalimantan Police, of corrupt officers,'€ Arief said.

Middle-ranking officer Idha and his subordinate, Brig. Harahap, made headlines on Aug. 29 after they were held by the Royal Malaysian Police in Kuching on suspicion of intending to accept a drugs package from a Filipino drugs mule, identified as Chusi or Sonya, who had earlier been arrested at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

After a week-long interrogation, Malaysian authorities released Idha and Harahap, having failed to find sufficient evidence of their roles in the case.

In spite of being cleared of the drug charges, the two officers were grilled by the National Police over disciplinary violations. The police found numerous indications of Idha'€™s complicity in the drugs business.

His former subordinate, Sunardi, recently claimed that Idha instructed him to steal evidence by replacing 5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, locally known as shabu-shabu, with a lump of alum.