
Indonesia drugs crackdown nets 285 including Australian
Indonesia is a major hub for drug trafficking in South-East Asia despite its strict drug laws, with convicted smugglers sometimes executed by firing squad.
National Narcotic Agency head Marthinus Hukom said the crackdown, between April and June across 20 provinces, also uncovered money laundering schemes by two drug syndicates and confiscated assets worth more than 26 billion rupiah (about $A2.3 million).
Thirty-six of the suspects, including 21 women, were paraded — handcuffed in their orange prison uniforms — in front of media, along with confiscated drugs.
Hukom said the women arrested were mostly housewives.
'I call on Indonesian women to be more vigilant in establishing friendships both in the real world and in cyberspace,' he said at a joint press conference with officials from the Security Affairs Ministry and Customs office which took part in the operation.
Agency deputy Budi Wibowo said authorities seized 683,885g of crystal meth, marijuana, ecstasy, THC, hashish and amphetamines — adding this helped stop them falling into the hands of 'more than 1.3 million people'.
Wibowo also said drug syndicates have used various methods to distribute narcotics to users via land and sea transportation or mail services.
The seven foreigners were a US citizen, two Kazakhs, two Malaysians, an Indian and an Australian, Wibowo said.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.
In a separate operation, authorities in the province of Riau Island in May exposed two cases of drug smuggling in its waters and seized 2.7 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine and 1.2 tonnes of ketamine, Hukom said on Monday.
In 2023, authorities uncovered more than 52,000 drug cases and confiscated 6.2 tonnes of crystal meth, 1.1 tonnes of marijuana and other types of synthetic narcotics, Mohammad Hasan of the Ministry of Security Affairs said.
Hasan said the number increased in 2024 with more than 56,000 cases in which 7.5 tonnes of crystal meth and 3.3 tonnes of marijuana was confiscated.
Authorities had arrested a total of 27,357 drug suspects by November 2024, he said.
Early this month, three British citizens accused of smuggling nearly 1kg of cocaine into Indonesia were charged on the tourist island of Bali.
They face the death penalty if convicted under the country's strict drug laws.
About 530 people, including 96 foreigners, are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, Ministry of Immigration and Corrections data showed.
Indonesia's last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
Hotel taken over to detain illegal Indonesian fishers
A surge in the number of Indonesians caught fishing illegally in Australia's northern waters has forced authorities to take over a city hotel to house them ahead of their court cases. The makeshift detention centre is in Darwin's inner city Frontier Hotel, which is closed to the public and guarded by uniformed employees of service provider MTC. When AAP visited the hotel on Wednesday morning, notices on the doors said access was strictly limited to authorised personnel. In the foyer grey-shirted employees of MTC said the hotel was closed to the public but they could not provide any further information. Australian Fisheries Management Authority data shows more than 240 foreign fishers have been prosecuted in the Darwin Local Court since July 2024, up from 75 the previous year. With Darwin no longer having a dedicated detention centre for such detainees the hotel has become an alternative holding centre. The fishermen, who lose their boats when detained by Australian navy or border force patrols, are often handed good behaviour bonds after pleading guilty to illegal fishing charges and sent back to Indonesia. The Australian Border Force pointed AAP to the Migration Act 1958 that places a legal duty on the Department of Home Affairs, including the border force, to remove unlawful non-citizens in immigration detention as soon as reasonably practicable.


Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Hotel taken over to detain illegal Indonesian fishers
A surge in the number of Indonesians caught fishing illegally in Australia's northern waters has forced authorities to take over a city hotel to house them ahead of their court cases. The makeshift detention centre is in Darwin's inner city Frontier Hotel, which is closed to the public and guarded by uniformed employees of service provider MTC. When AAP visited the hotel on Wednesday morning, notices on the doors said access was strictly limited to authorised personnel. In the foyer grey-shirted employees of MTC said the hotel was closed to the public but they could not provide any further information. Australian Fisheries Management Authority data shows more than 240 foreign fishers have been prosecuted in the Darwin Local Court since July 2024, up from 75 the previous year. With Darwin no longer having a dedicated detention centre for such detainees the hotel has become an alternative holding centre. The fishermen, who lose their boats when detained by Australian navy or border force patrols, are often handed good behaviour bonds after pleading guilty to illegal fishing charges and sent back to Indonesia. The Australian Border Force pointed AAP to the Migration Act 1958 that places a legal duty on the Department of Home Affairs, including the border force, to remove unlawful non-citizens in immigration detention as soon as reasonably practicable.

Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Australian women's indoor hockey coach admits to kissing teenage girl
Australian women's indoor hockey coach Lauren Austin has pleaded guilty to the indecent assault of a child under her care, while two other more serious charges she was facing have been discontinued. Austin, 39, was arrested in March last year and charged with indecently dealing with a child over 16 under care/authority, sexual penetration of a child over 16 under their authority, and sexual penetration without consent. All the charges relate to one girl and occurred in Perth. On Wednesday, she appeared in Perth Magistrates Court and wiped away tears as she pleaded guilty to four of the indecent dealing charges, which the magistrate stated were in relation to kissing the girl. The two sexual penetration charges were dropped. Austin was granted bail under the condition she not engage with community activities involving supervising children, including as a sports coach at any level. As a result of those conditions she was stood down from her coaching role. Loading 'The alleged offences occurred on several different dates, at locations in the Perth metropolitan area, including when the female victim was both an adult and a juvenile,' a WA Police spokesman said. 'At the time of the alleged offences the woman held a coaching position with a national sporting team.' Hockey Australia released a statement saying it was aware that a matter had been reported to the authorities and was currently subject to investigation and legal proceedings.