Multa Fidrus and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang/Bogor
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and Jakarta Police burned kilograms of drugs on Thursday that were confiscated in a four-month antidrug campaign that also saw the arrest of 22 drug dealers nationwide.
The drugs, incinerated in Tangerang, Banten, were 1,326 grams of heroin, 850 grams of cocaine, 585.2 kilos of marijuana, 54.05 kilos of crystal methamphetamine, eight kilos of liquid crystal methamphetamine, 208,238 ecstasy pills and 24.86 kilos of ecstasy powder.
"We estimate that all of the drugs were worth Rp 56,203,400,000. We confiscated the drugs from 22 dealers in 14 cases," said Adj. Comr. Sugeng, chief of the Jakarta Police narcotics unit.
BNN chief Insp. Gen. Sutanto said that judging by several big arrests and the confiscation of large amounts of drugs in Jakarta and West Java, Indonesia had become a major ecstasy producer over the past several years.
He said that the destroyed drugs were only a fraction of the drugs circulating in the country, but they would still have had a great impact on the younger generation.
"We already have an image as being one of the most corrupt nations in the world, and now we are a big producer and supplier of drugs. That's why we will continue to join hands to fight drug abuse in the country," Sutanto said.
Police made dozens of major drug arrests and confiscated a great deal of narcotics in the first five months of the year.
Dozens of drug traffickers, mostly foreign nationals, have been sentenced to death by the Tangerang and Denpasar district courts.
However, some smugglers still consider trying to brig drugs into the country worth the risk.
There are an estimated four million drug users in the country, most of them teenagers.
The Tangerang District Court will to try over a dozen drug suspects in the not too distant future, while over 20 people are on death row in Tangerang.
Meanwhile, Bogor Prosecutor's Office also destroyed drugs on Thursday that were kept as evidence in trials that went to court between March 2004 and June 2005.
The office destroyed 18.3 kilograms of marijuana, 26.5 grams of heroin, 2.062 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, 12,000 ecstasy pills and 664 lexotan pills.
Bogor Prosecutor's Office chief Marabangun Harahap said the drugs came from 59 cases handled in the past year.
"The destroyed drugs came from evidence from cases that have be ruled on by the courts. We will continue to be tough on drug dealers," he said.
