A convict in a maximum-security
Indonesian prison masterminded an operation to import 1.2 million
ecstasy tablets which led to two arrests and the death of another
suspect, authorities said Tuesday.
They told a press conference the arrested
pair could face the death penalty if convicted of importing the drugs
from the Netherlands.
The alleged mastermind — currently
serving a 15-year sentence in the maximum security prison at
Nusakambangan — would also be charged in the new case and could face
death if convicted, said national police chief Tito Karnavian.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati
warned that Indonesia has been targeted by major trafficking syndicates
who see it as a highly lucrative market.
Police, national narcotics agency staff
and customs raided a warehouse in Banten province outside Jakarta on
July 21 after investigating a syndicate for two months.
Hundreds of thousands of ecstasy tablets
were seized and police arrested a 39-year-old man who told them the
drugs had been shipped from the Netherlands.
The 39-year-old said the smuggling was organised by the drugs convict.
On July 24 police arrested another
suspect in Tangerang just outside Jakarta with 56 bags of ecstasy
tablets on him, bringing the total seized to more than 1.2 million.
On July 27 a third man caught with two
kilogrammes (4.4 pounds) of methamphetamine was shot dead for resisting
arrest in West Jakarta, police said.
“For this case, then (two detainees)
could face the death penalty,” Karnavian said, adding the drugs had an
estimated street value of more than $45 million.
Last month police shot dead a Taiwanese
man caught with a tonne of crystal methamphetamine just outside Jakarta
and arrested four other Taiwanese.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest anti-drugs laws, including capital punishment for traffickers.
It has executed several foreign and Indonesian narcotics convicts by firing squad in the past few years. (France24)
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