643 Narcotics Dealers Enforced To Nusakambangan, Most Of Them From Jakarta

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights (HAM) moved 643 drug dealers to Nusakambangan to overcome drug trafficking that is controlled by prisons in the country.

"We transferred 643 drug dealers to the maximum-security prison in Nusakambangan to deal with illicit drug trafficking that is controlled from prisons or remand centers", said Minister HAM Yasonna Laoly during a meeting with the Commission III of the Indonesian Parliament in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Wednesday, March 17.

This mass transfer is the first time it has been carried out and will continue in the future by the relevant ministries.

Yasonna admitted that there were indeed those who tried to prevent drug dealers from being moved, but this could not be prevented because it was a commitment.

More specifically, the 643 people who were assisted in the category of drug dealers and high risk who were relocated came from prisons or detention centers in 12 regional offices, namely 99 people from DKI Jakarta, 76 people from Lampung, 50 people from Aceh, 48 people from Yogyakarta and 91 people from West Java.

Then, 54 people from North Sumatra, 50 people from South Sumatra, 47 people from Riau, 46 people from Banten, 43 people from West Kalimantan, 21 people from East Java, and 18 people from Bali.

Also, Yasonna said the relocation policy had an impact on increasing the number of residents in Nusakambangan. In fact, it was immediately full. This is because prisoners are only one person in one cell.

This was then addressed by building a special prison for high-risk drug dealers on Nusakambangan Island in 2021.

"As a result of the relocation of drug dealers, the maximum-security prison in Nusakambangan is full. For that we will build a prison in Nusakambangan", she said.

Also, Yasonna said his staff had transferred six former correctional officers who were convicted of drug-related cases to Nusakambangan.

This policy is inseparable from the commitment of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights in imposing strict sanctions on its staff who play with drug trafficking in prisons or remand centers.

"We have fired many of the employees involved, some have been demoted, some have been convicted", she said.

Related to this, she also hopes that Commission III of the DPR RI encourages the revision of the Narcotics Law to overcome overcrowding in prisons or remand centers.

According to her, if in a country there is one type of crime that dominates by more than 50 percent, of course, this indicates something is wrong, whether it is in the provisions of the laws and regulations that need to be corrected or something else.