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Police arrest five suspected Makassar drug dealers
The Makassar Police arrested five people accused of distributing 1
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T
he Makassar Police arrested five people accused of distributing 1.2 kilograms of crystal meth, locally known as shabu-shabu, worth Rp 2.19 billion (US$173,905.27) and 4,188 ecstasy pills amounting to Rp 1.5 million in a raid in Makassar early on Saturday.
So far, the police have named two out of the five as suspect ' Amiruddin Rahman aka Amir Aco, 36, and Michael Wibisono, 32.
The police have not yet named the three others, Ayu, Mia and Syamsul, as suspects due to their incomplete investigations, including the results of their urine tests.
South Sulawesi Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Endi Sutendi said the case was revealed when officers conducted an operation on Friday evening.
'During the raid, officers stopped a taxi with a passenger on Jl. Bonto Lempangan, but when they started to inspect the car, the passenger fled. The officers pursued and arrested him. Upon searching the passenger, whose name was later known to be Michael Wibisono, they found seven grams of crystal meth, a set of inhaling glass pipes and Rp 8.5 million in cash,' he said on Saturday.
Endi further explained that during his interrogation, Michael, a Jakarta resident, claimed he was travelling via taxi to meet his friend ' Amir Aco ' at the Hotel Clarion, Makassar.
'He claimed he received 50 grams of crystal meth, including some found in his pocket, from Amir Aco,' said Endi.
The police then raided the hotel where they found Amiruddin with his three friends ' Ayu, Mia and Syamsul. They were later taken into custody and interrogated about the drugs found during the raid.
'From Amiruddin's testimony, the police raided two locations, first at his boarding house on Jl. Rajawali where they found three grams of crystal meth. They continued to his family home on Jl. Lamaddukkelleng Buntu where they found more than one kilogram of crystal meth and 4,188 ecstasy pills,' said Endi.
Both suspects said they sold the crystal meth for Rp 1.8 million per gram while the ecstasy pills were sold at Rp 375,000 per pill. The total amount of drugs confiscated amounted to around Rp 3.7 billion.
It is suspected that Amiruddin is a drug dealer and member of an international narcotics network, as he claimed he received the drugs from his boss, a Nigerian national who was a drug trafficking inmate once imprisoned at Nusakambangan prison.
According to police data, Amiruddin was from East Kalimantan and escaped from Balikpapan Penitentiary in 2014. He was a drug convict sentenced to 20 years in prison and had been serving his term at Balikpapan prison since 2008 before he escaped, finding work again as a drug dealer.
'We are investigating the case to reveal where they got the drugs and the identity of their drug network,' said Makassar Police crime investigation division chief Comr. Agus Khaerul. (ebf)(++++)
