REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TULUNGAGUNG -- The Tulungagung National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has thwarted an attempt to smuggle 280 grams of crystal methamphetamine and arrested the courier, only identified by his initials as AW. The BNN officers' success in foiling the drug smuggling attempt has saved at least 2.8 thousand people from being trapped into the drug ring's crimes, the agency's head, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Djoko Purnomo, told journalists here on Wednesday.
The crystal meth package was estimated to have a street price of Rp392 million, he stated, adding that the BNN officers had seized the drug package, two smart phones, and cash money totaling Rp109 thousand from the hands of AW, a former drug convict. The suspect was nabbed at an intersection in Kromasan Village, Ngunut Subdistrict, Tulungagung District, East Java Province, this week, while transporting the drug package to a local drug dealer, who was identified by his initials as BDK.
AW told the BNN investigators that he was asked by BDK, who is currently being jailed in Madiun Penitentiary, to transport the drug package, and he was promised Rp500 thousand (US$1 = Rp14,053) as payment, Purnomo explained. The suspect is charged under Law No. 35 of 2009 on Narcotics, in which he can be sentenced to five years in prison, he added.
Indonesia is indeed perceived by both local and trans-national drug dealers as their potential market because of its huge population and millions of drug users. The BNN noted that some 50 Indonesians die of illicit drugs every day, while the total number of drug users in the country has reached seven million. The value of the drug trade in the country is estimated to have reached at least Rp66 trillion.
On Jan 27, 2019, the National Police seized 50 kilograms of crystal meth, 15 thousand ecstasy pills, and a pack of Happy Five (nimetazepam) pills that two couriers attempted to smuggle from Malaysia into Indonesia.
The two suspects, only identified by their initials RM, alias IY (38), and AS (39), were arrested in North Sumatra, Director of the National Police Criminal Investigation Department's Narcotics Division Brig. Gen. Eko Daniyanto revealed. Considering the above reality, drug trafficking activities have appeared to be an ongoing threat to Indonesia's security and human resources.
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