Makassar, S Sulawesi (ANTARA) - The Makassar City Police on Monday destroyed at least 30.2 kilograms of methamphetamine and 8,229 ecstasy pills containing mephedrone using an incinerator belonging to the Makassar office of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN).
The drugs were seized from six drug traffickers during a month-long crackdown in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.According to chief of the Makassar City Police, Senior Commissioner Mokh Ngajib, though the suspects were nabbed in Makassar, they belonged to drug rings in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, and Kalimantan Island.
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The destroyed crystal meth was estimated to be worth about Rp6 billion (US$1 = around Rp15,857), he informed, adding that the suspects had been trafficking drugs in Makassar for more than three months.
The crackdown was part of the police's war on drugs ahead of the year-end holiday season, Ngajib said. As reported earlier, drug lords still see Indonesia as a potential market on account of its vast population and millions of drug users.
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The value of drug trade in the country is estimated to have reached about Rp66 trillion (around US$4.3 billion). Hence, Indonesia has seen drug addiction spiral into a life-threatening problem for millions of citizens.
A survey conducted by the BNN and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has pegged the number of drug users in Indonesia at 3.4 million. As per the survey, at least 180 out of every 10 thousand Indonesians, aged between 15 and 64 years, have fallen prey to drug addiction.
