TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The South Jakarta Metropolitan Police recently nabbed `AM` alias `J` for allegedly possessing 2,195 ecstasy pills at his rented house in Tamansari, West Jakarta, a police officer revealed Monday.

AM was probably a drug dealer because the police's anti-drug squad personnel also confiscated 60 grams of crystal meth packed in a plastic bag and an electric scale, South Jakarta Metropolitan Police Chief Sen. Coms. Bastoni Purnama said while speaking to journalists.

"The suspect confessed to police investigators that he had received the drug package from a fugitive only identified by his initial R," he said, adding that before being arrested, AM had sold 305 ecstasy pills and one kg of crystal meth to his customers.

The suspect admitted that he had been selling the drug for two years in the neighborhoods of Tamansari in West Jakarta and Tebet and Setiabudi in South Jakarta. If he sold the entire package, R would pay the suspect Rp15 million, Purnama said.
Indonesia remains under grave threat from drug dealers, as several individuals from its working-age population have been engulfed in a vicious circle.

According to the National Narcotics Agency's (BNN's) report, some 50 Indonesians die of drug use daily. But, their deaths have failed to deter other drug users in the country from consuming these banned substances.

Users of crystal methamphetamine, narcotics, marijuana, and other addictive drugs transcend communities and socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

Hence, Indonesia is perceived by both domestic and transnational drug dealers as a potential market due to its huge population and millions of drug users. The value of the drug trade in the country is estimated to have reached nearly Rp66 trillion.

In response to the illicit drugs that drug kingpins have smuggled into and traded in the country over the past few decades, the Indonesian government continues to apply punitive measures against them.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo had also issued shoot-at-sight orders against drug kingpins.

However, this has failed to deter drug traffickers. They continue to treat Indonesia as one of their main markets even as Indonesian law enforcers continue unabated their fight against them.

ANTARA