By The prosecutor’s office in Central Kalimantan approved the police’s decision to destroy the seized drugs, chief of Central Kalimantan Police’s Narcotics Investigation Division, Sen.Coms.Nono Wardoyo, said.
Speaking in Palangka Raya city on Wednesday, he informed that the suspects were from Palangka Raya and the districts of Pulang Pisau, Kotawaringin Timur, Barito Selatan, and Seruyan.
The cops confiscated 377.02 grams of crystal meth from four suspects arrested in Palangka Raya, he added.
Domestic and transnational drug dealers consider Indonesia to be a potential market due to its vast population and millions of drug users.
The value of drug trade in the country is estimated to have reached nearly Rp66 trillion (around US$4.15 billion), with the number of drug trafficking cases continuing to surge.
The National Police recently claimed to have crippled the drug ring run by Fredy Pratama, a drug lord wanted for trafficking 10.2 tons of crystal meth and 116,346 ecstasy pills in Indonesia from 2020 to 2023.
Over the past three years, the police have uncovered 408 drug cases related to Pratama’s network and arrested 884 suspects.
A joint survey conducted by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in 2019 pegged the number of drug users in Indonesia at over 3.4 million.
The survey conducted in 34 provinces indicated that about 180 out of every 10 thousand Indonesians in the age group of 15 to 64 years were addicted to drugs.
The users of crystal methamphetamine, narcotics, marijuana, and other types of addictive drugs can belong to any community and socioeconomic and cultural background.
ANTARA reported earlier that in November 2019, for instance, a legislator from the Nasdem Party faction in Kapuas district’s legislative body had tested positive for drug use.
Berinto, 35, passed the medical check-up when he was nominated as one of the party’s legislative candidates for the district, but later tested positive for drug use.
Under the Nasdem Party’s integrity pact, the party’s legislative candidates or presidential and vice presidential candidates are prohibited from getting involved in serious crimes such as corruption, drug use and trafficking, sexual assault, and terrorism.
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