National Police Appreciated, 1,532 Drug Suspects Arrested Through Operation Escobar II

Illustration of one of the dried marijuana (ANTARA) drugs

JAKARTA - Member of Commission III DPR Jazilul Fawaid highlighted the arrest of 1,532 suspects in drug cases through the Escobar II operation by confiscating hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine and hundreds of ecstasy pills.

Jazilul appreciated President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo for the success of the drug eradication operation. He hopes that efforts to eradicate drugs will continue to be intensified in remote areas of the country.

"I express my highest appreciation to the President and Chief of Police in the hope that it will be even louder. That is not enough, because drugs have reached the villages, it is an emergency", said Jazilul to reporters, Friday, October 6.

As is known, the National Police, through the Task Force for Combating Drug Abuse and Illegal Trafficking, arrested 1,532 suspects in drug cases through Operation Escobar II. In this operation, hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine to hundreds of thousands of ecstasy pills were confiscated.

The Deputy General Chairperson of the National Awakening Party (PKB) also appreciated the task force head and personnel involved in Operation Escobar II. Jazilul hopes that the task force team will be given appreciation for this great work in eradicating drugs.

"I take my hat off to the achievements of the task force chief. Don't be slack in continuing to eradicate drugs that are destroying the future of the nation's generation. In my opinion, the National Police Chief should award promotions or positions to the operations team which has succeeded in saving 1.9 million lives", said Jazilul.

For information, in Operation Escobar II, the National Police arrested 1,532 suspects within 10 days of the Task Force being formed, namely 21-30 September. The drug evidence confiscated included 407,842 grams of methamphetamine, 368,769 ecstasy, 48,442.55 grams of marijuana, 78.79 grams of Gorilla tobacco, 500 grams of ketamine and 57,554 hard drugs.

The Task Force for Combating Drug Abuse and Illegal Trafficking said that 1.9 million people were saved from the dangers of drug abuse.

The figure of 1,938,973 lives that could be saved is based on the police's range of drug use. If 1 gram of crystal methamphetamine is used by 5 people per day, the 320,600 grams confiscated by the police means it has the potential to be used by 1.6 million people. Because the 320,600 grams of methamphetamine were confiscated by the National Police, 1.6 million people survived.

The Deputy Chair of the MPR also hopes that the authorities will quickly take firm and tough legal action against drug networks.

"Drugs are our enemy. We have a drug emergency because Indonesia is a big market for drug crimes", said Jazilul.