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Bangka Belitung uninhabited islands prone to becoming drug transit points: Governor
Bangka Belitung Islands Governor Erzaldi Rosman says there are 400 uninhabited islands in the province that might be used as key transit point for illegal narcotics.
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Personnel from the National Narcotics Agency, the Finance Ministry's customs and excise office and the Navy lay out packages of crystal methamphetamine during a press conference on Feb. 20, 2018. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
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uthorities have said that the uninhabited islands across the Bangka Belitung Islands might have been used as a key transit point for illegal narcotics following the discovery of crystal methamphetamine distribution in the province.
Bangka Belitung Islands Governor Erzaldi Rosman said 400 of about 460 islands in the province were uninhabited.
“This condition allows [the islands] to be used as transit points [for the illegal drugs],” Erzaldi said during a press briefing at the Bangka Belitung Police headquarters on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.
The governor led a ceremony on Monday in which authorities destroyed more than 200 kilograms of methamphetamine-type narcotics by dissolving and blending them in water before burying them.
Read also: Crystal meth now cheaper, 'stronger' in Indonesia as drug busts rise: UN report
A joint operation comprising the Bangka Belitung Islands Police and the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department recently uncovered a crystal meth distribution chain in the province.
Bangka Belitung Islands Police chief Insp. Gen. Anang Syarif Hidayat said authorities had found 98 packages of the drug weighing 211 kg in corn sacks imported from Myanmar.
“The corn from Myanmar was sent to Malaysia first and then transported to Batam [in Riau Islands]. From Batam, it was taken to Pangkalpinang before eventually being brought to Jakarta,” said Anang.
He added that the drugs were meant to be delivered to a location in Cikarang, Bekasi regency, West Java. The police raided the location and arrested a woman, identified as CS.
Authorities seized the illegal narcotics before they were destroyed in Pangkalpinang on Monday. (syk)
