REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Areas, and Transmigration Minister Eko Putro Sandjojo highlighted the problem of drug trafficking in villages. Lately, villages have became potential markets for drug dealers.

"Indeed, with the village income continuing to increase, the opportunity for the entry of drugs will be large, for which we must take precautionary measures," Sandjojo remarked when the 2018 village potential data collection (Podes) was released at the Office of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in Jakarta on Monday.

According to him, in the past four years, the per capita income in the village had increased by almost 50 percent, so the purchasing power of the village community has also improved. He believes this would be viewed by drug dealers as an opportunity to make the village their market.

Sandjojo said his party had also cooperated with the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) to curb drug trafficking in the village and prevent the rising circulation of illegal drugs there. He cited as an example the Kutuh Village in South Kuta Sub-District, Badung District, in Bali Province that had earlier been a poor area, with high incidence of drug trafficking.