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Semarang student uses Bitcoin to buy ecstasy from Netherlands
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This file photo taken in Washington, DC, on May 1, 2014 shows bitcoin medals. (AFP/Karen Bleier)
A
student from the University of Diponegoro in Semarang, Central Java, has allegedly used bitcoins to pay for nine ecstasy pills that he had ordered from the Netherlands.
A team from the Central Java Narcotics Agency (BNNP) arrested the suspect near his boarding house in Tembalang, Semarang, on March 26.
“He bought the drugs through a Bitcoin transaction amounting to Rp 800,000 [US$56]. Such a transaction made it easier for him to buy the drugs from abroad. It’s a new criminal method for [buying] drugs,” BNNP head Brig. Gen. Tri Agus Heru Prasetyo said on Wednesday.
The suspect, who is in his final semester at the University of Diponegoro's School of Maritime Affairs, allegedly bought the ecstasy from the Netherlands because it was cheaper than buying the drugs in Indonesia, where one ecstasy pill is often priced at Rp 400,000.
The BNNP is investigating the case to determine whether the student is a user or drug dealer.
Tri Agus said drug abuse cases were common among students. Around 27 percent of the total 500,000 suspects in drug abuse cases handled by the agency in 2017 were school and university students, he said.
The suspect claimed he had bought ecstasy pills using the same technique in 2017. In his second alleged transaction, Customs and Excise personnel at Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang tracked the drugs for around 15 days. (ebf)
