Drug Dealers Recruit Teenager as Courier in S. Kalimantan: Police

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The South Kalimantan Police's Anti-Drug Department revealed that a local drug ring has used a 15-year-old teenager as a courier following an arrest of a suspect only identified by his initials RD.

"The suspect is 15 years old. He was nabbed along with another suspect, MP (39), when selling 5.1 grams of crystal methamphetamine," the South Kalimantan Police's anti-drug squad member, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sigit Kumoro, said here on Sunday.

"We have confiscated five small packs of crystal meth that the suspects attempted to sell in Teluk Tiram Village area of Banjarmasin Barat Subdistrict," he said, adding that RD was arrested after the police investigators received tip-offs from local residents.

Kumoro said he was very concerned with RD's case because the suspect was likely recruited by the drug dealer as a courier after becoming a regular drug user. By working as a drug courier, he could get the drug to meet his need.

In saving Indonesia's children and teenagers from the traps of drug dealers, they need to be educated about the danger of drugs to make them understand and aware, he added.

Cross-border drug traffickers continue to target South Kalimantan, the local police recently revealed while thwarting an attempt by a Malaysian drug ring to trade 10,078 ecstasy pills and 1,036 grams of crystal meth in the province.

Indonesia remains under a serious threat from drug dealers, as several individuals from its working-age population have been trapped in a vicious circle.

The National Narcotics Agency's (BNN's) report that some 50 Indonesians die of drug use every day has not yet deterred drug users in the country from consuming these banned substances.

Users of crystal methamphetamine, narcotics, marijuana, and other addictive drugs are from across communities and from distinct socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

Therefore, 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 harsh punitive action 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 keep the fight against them going.

ANTARA