Gianyar, Bali (ANTARA) - The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) revealed here on Tuesday that a clandestine laboratory in Bali Island, which was found producing dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogenic drug, was managed by several foreign nationals.During a raid conducted on July 18, 2024, BNN officers nabbed three Filipinos, BNN's law enforcement deputy, Insp Gen I Wayan Sugiri, said. Meanwhile, a hunt was launched for a Jordanian citizen, identified as AMI, he added.
The Filipinos were identified by their initials as DAS, a 28-year-old man, PMS (DAS' mother), and DOS (DAS' sister), he informed, adding that DAS has been named a suspect while the two others have remained witnesses.
The clandestine lab was found inside a tarpaulin tent that the suspects had set up in the front yard of a rented villa in Keliki Kawan village, Payangan sub-district, Gianyar district, Bali province, Sugiri said.
BNN officers discovered chemical substances and lab equipment, including measuring glasses, beaker glasses, and a magnetic stirrer, as well as a plastic of clear liquid containing the DMT substance, he added.
DAS has been charged under Articles 114 (2), 113 (2), and 112 (2) of Law No.35 of 2009 on Narcotics, and is facing the death penalty or life imprisonment, he said.
As reported earlier, drug lords still see Indonesia as a potential market due to its vast population, and millions of drug users. The value of the drug trade in the country is estimated to have reached about Rp66 trillion.
Consequently, Indonesia has seen drug addiction spiral into a life-threatening problem for millions of its people. On UN Day in 2021, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin drew the collective attention of Indonesians to the grave threat posed by drug crimes to the country.
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He cited the results of a survey conducted by the BNN and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), which pegged the number of drug users in Indonesia at 3.4 million. Referring to the survey, Amin noted that around 180 of every 10 thousand Indonesians, aged between 15 and 64, had fallen into drug addiction.
He warned that the nation is not only seeing a huge number of drug users in the productive age group but is also being challenged by massive drug trafficking operations.
"Drug trades have reached villages and are involving women and children, who are becoming drug couriers as well as users," he stated.