The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) says it has uncovered the systematic production and sale of liquid methamphetamine at a nightclub in West Jakarta.

BNN personnel raided the MG International on Jl. Pangeran Tubagus Angke at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday in a joint operation with the Tanjung Duren Police and the military police. In the club, they found bottles of chemicals as well as tools allegedly used to produce drugs including crystal methamphetamine and ecstasy. The methamphetamine lab was found on the fourth floor of the building.

BNN drug control head Insp. Gen. Arman Depari said the lab had enough equipment and materials to produce several types of narcotics. “Judging by the size and the variety of the materials, it is not a kitchen lab, but more like a factory that has been producing drugs for quite a long time,” he said.

According to statements from the interrogated suspects, he said, the club had been producing liquid meth for two years.

BNN had arrested and named as suspects five employees of the club, Arman said, while the club’s owner and alleged lab operator, identified only as Rudy, was still at large.

They were charged under Article 113 of Law No. 35/2008 on narcotics, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years of imprisonment.

During the raid, the club was packed with around 140 guests partying on the first floor. BNN officials found that 120 of them tested positive for drugs. “Eighty male guests and 40 female guests tested positive for methamphetamine and [ecstasy],” Arman said, adding that the users would be put in rehabilitation, in line with the law.

BNN Jakarta head Johny P. Latupeirissa explained that the modus operandi used at the nightclub was rather new in Jakarta. Instead of selling crystal meth and ecstasy pills, the club sold those drugs as clear liquid filled into 330-ml mineral water bottles.

BNN confiscated at least 80 bottles in the raid.

Club members could purchase the bottled drug for Rp 400,000 (US$29.48) by showing their membership card. “One bottle can be consumed by three to four people,” Johny said.

He explained that, to the untrained eye, MG International was just like any other nightclub. “Anyone can enter the club, but to purchase the liquid meth, they would have to be a member,” he said.

The club would offer membership to frequent visitors, Johny said, “once they were sure that a frequent guest could be their customer, they would offer them membership,” he said.

However, Johny said the agency suspected that the club did not sell the liquid meth exclusively to its members but also to some outsiders.

“[The bottles] looked exactly like mineral water, and anyone can bring it anywhere without raising suspicion,” he said.

BNN was still investigating the club’s drug production capacity and the profits made, he said. The agency was coordinating with the police to investigate a possible distribution of the drug at other clubs.

“We are still pursuing the club’s owner and investigating where they got their supplies and how they laundered the profit from the business,” Johny said.

In November last year, officers from the Customs and Excise Office at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport thwarted an attempt to smuggle liquid meth into the country from Malaysia.

A Malaysian national identified as NNE was carrying blue liquid meth in 14 mineral water bottles.

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