37 Years Old Man In Bandung 'Farms' 43 Cannabis Trees, Sold Dry Per 5 Grams For IDR 500 Thousand

JAKARTA - The Bandung Police Narcotics Investigation Unit arrested a man with the initials BT (37) for 'farming' 43 marijuana trees allegedly for sale online.

Bandung Police Chief Kombes Aswin Sipayung said that BT cultivates the cannabis tree, which has reached 10-30 centimeters in height, at his home, on Jalan Mawar, Bandung City, West Java.

"We have checked in the laboratory. It is confirmed that it is a marijuana plant," said Aswin at the Bandung Police's Drug Investigation Unit, West Java, Antara, Wednesday, May 25.

According to Aswin, the suspect BT has been running this illegal business for a year. The suspect got the cannabis plant seeds from purchases he made online on Facebook.

"The marijuana seeds were obtained from Usep, who is a DPO. The suspect (BT) knew Usep from the Facebook friendship application," he said.

From BT's statement, the marijuana was sold for Rp. 500 thousand per five grams. According to BT, the marijuana sold is ready for consumption because it has been processed to dry it out, he explained.

"The suspect has sold marijuana for the past year, there have been about 15 sales," he added.

Apart from 43 marijuana trees, the police also seized a number of other evidences, such as three plastic bags containing marijuana seeds, a number of packages containing marijuana ready to be distributed, as well as other equipment for producing marijuana.

As a result of this act, the suspect BT was charged with Article 114 Paragraph 1 in conjunction with Article 111 Paragraph 2 of Law Number 35 Year 2009 concerning Narcotics, with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

"With the evidence that was secured, it is estimated that as many as 2,000 people were saved from marijuana abuse," said Aswin.