T

he Jakarta Police on Thursday destroyed narcotics worth a total of Rp 1.2 trillion (US$86.6 million), which were seized from July to September in various operations in Jakarta.

The narcotics, consisting of 672.84 kilograms of methamphetamine; 637,085 ecstasy pills; 18.5 kilograms of marijuana and 2.5 kilograms of ketamine, were burned at the outskirts of Jakarta in Tangerang, Banten, to prevent the smoke from reaching residents'€™ houses.

The police'€™s narcotics unit head Sr. Comr. Eko Daniyanto said that all the meth was imported from China, Taiwan and Malaysia by international drug syndicates. The ketamine and the ecstasy pills were confiscated from both local and international syndicates, while the marijuana was from Jakarta, Aceh, Riau and Medan, according to Eko.

Eko added that the narcotics had been seized from 1,562 suspects in 1,278 cases.

'€œThe destruction is intended to show the public that seized narcotics are totally destroyed. We left only a small amount to be used as samples in court,'€ he said.

The Jakarta Police chief Ins. Gen. Tito Karnavian said that drug syndicates normally sell ecstasy at around Rp 600,000 per pill while meth was sold at Rp 1,200,000 per gram.

'€œThe total worth of the seized narcotics was around Rp 1.2 trillion,'€ he said on Thursday.

Eko revealed that narcotics seizures from July to September this year were higher than that of the same period last year, in which police only seized 43.8 kilograms of meth and 2,763 ecstasy pills.

'€œHowever, our marijuana seizures decreased. Last year, we seized 472.3 kilograms. Marijuana dealers have turned to meth dealing for higher profits,'€ Eko claimed.

Tito said that this year'€™s larger seizure of meth from international syndicates showed that Indonesia was now a target for international drug dealers.

'€œThis [the catch] is an alarm for us. Jakarta has now become one of the biggest markets for drugs in Southeast Asia,'€ he said, adding that Indonesia has become a target because its middle class is increasing.

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) head Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso said that Indonesia needed a firm approach to combat the distribution of drugs in the country, especially from international drug rings.

According to him, drug dealers should no longer be charged under criminal law as they were killing the country'€™s younger generation and draining the state budget due to the rehabilitation fees of victims.

'€œWe should treat drug dealers as the enemies of our nation,'€ he said. '€œThe army should use their bullets. They posses sharp bullets, they should use them.'€

To realize his idea, Budi said he was currently preparing to form a special squad under his institution to combat the spread of drugs in Indonesia. He did not give details about the planned squad but said that they would have extraordinary powers. (saf)