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Police bust drugs ring based in North Kalimantan prison
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An illustration of drug dealing in jail. (Shutterstock/cunaplus)
T
he National Police recently smashed an international drug ring allegedly controlled by a convict in the class II Tarakan Penitentiary in North Kalimantan, a revelation that has raised alarm over the poor management of the country’s overcrowded prisons.
Speaking in a press conference on Wednesday, National Police Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) head Sr. Comr. Wahyu Widada said the inmate, identified only as HS, is believed to have led the drug-smuggling operation in addition to running a money-laundering scheme to cover it up.
The investigation into HS, Wahyu went on to say, started after the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Correctional Facilities Directorate General alerted authorities in October last year to the fact that HS “often caused trouble” during his time at the penitentiary.
HS was previously sentenced to death for drug-related offenses by the Tarakan District Court in April 2018, but had his sentence slashed to 18 years on appeal.
“Based on the information provided to Bareskrim, we conducted an investigation and found indications of illicit drug trafficking by the person concerned. Even though he was in a penitentiary, he still had the ability to manage drug-trafficking operations,” Wahyu said.
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HS is thought to have been aided by another person, identified only as F, in the operation, which involved smuggling drugs from Malaysia into North and West Kalimantan provinces, before the drugs were then distributed to other provinces including in Sulawesi as well as Bali and East Java. F is currently on the run from law enforcement.
