Tourist Attractions In Pariaman, West Sumatra Are Often Used For Drug Transactions

Kasat Resnarkoba Polres Pariaman Iptu Darmawan (center) during a press conference in Pariaman, ANTARA/Aadiriaat MS.

PARIAMAN - Polres Kota Pariaman, Sumatra Barat, said that tourist attraction areas in the area are often used as locations for narcotics transactions, either carried out by perpetrators from the local or outside.

The role of all parties is needed to minimize the space for the perpetrators to sell these illicit goods.

"We have secured many crime scenes at the Pariaman tourist attraction (as locations for narcotics transactions). The transactions are at night and during the day, but the most often at night," said Head of the Pariaman Police Narcotics Investigation Unit Iptu Darmawan in Pariaman, Antara, Friday, October 4.

At least in August this year the Pariaman Police have arrested two perpetrators who made the tourist attraction area a location for the sale of methamphetamine.

He conveyed that the perpetrators who sold the illicit goods were recidivists, both residents of Agam Regency, with the mode of being tourists and residents from the area who made tourist areas close to their homes a location for narcotics transactions.

He explained that the suspect from Agam with the initials HS (38) had long been stalked by the police until the day of his arrest on Saturday (31/8) his party tracked down his whereabouts. Until finally the person concerned stopped at the Talao Pauh tourist area and it was suspected that a transaction would be carried out.

"During the arrest, the perpetrator threw evidence into Talao," he said.

At the tourist attraction, he continued, the Pariaman Police arrested the perpetrators with five small packages of evidence suspected of being methamphetamine.

From the suspect's confession, he said, this was the first time he had sold methamphetamine in a tourist area in Pariaman, but the police did not believe it.

The perpetrator is a recidivist with the same case as a prison sentence of about three years.

Meanwhile, the suspect from Pariaman with the initials HY (35) was arrested on Wednesday (18/9) based on reports from residents he often sells methamphetamine, not only at his home but also in tourist areas.

He conveyed that the behavior of the suspect who sold the illicit goods had been warned by his parents and local residents but was ignored.

The suspect, he said, was a recidivist in the same case with a sentence of eight years and three months so that he only came out of bars about eight months ago until he was finally arrested by the local police.

During the arrest of the suspect, the police continued to secure six medium-sized packages containing methamphetamine and 21 small packages of suspected methamphetamine.

He hopes that residents and stakeholders in the area will continue to monitor suspicious activities and report them to the local police so that they can reduce the space for the perpetrators to sell these illicit goods.

Previously, the Pariaman City Resort Police (Polres), West Sumatra recorded cases of narcotics abuse for the January-September 2024 period in the jurisdiction of the institution having reached 37 cases or an increase from the previous year which was only 36 cases.

"36 cases throughout 2023, now they have just entered October. It is estimated that the number of cases in 2024 will continue to increase until the end of the year," said Head of the Pariaman Police Narcotics Unit, Iptu Darmawan, during a press conference in Pariaman.

He said that with the number of cases, at least his party had named more than 50 suspects with various ages and origins.