AP – Authorities in Indonesia arrested three foreigners for distributing cocaine on the Indonesian resort island of Bali at the end of July.
Officers from the National Narcotics Agency seized 844.6 grammes of cocaine along with other drugs including MDMA and cannabis from the suspects, who are identified as British, Brazilian and Mexican.
At a news conference yesterday, Bali National Narcotics Agency chief Gde Sugianyar Dwi Putra said officers arrested the British man, who they suspect is the lowest-level distributor of the three on July 21 in Badung district after receiving information about his alleged activities.
The officers then arrested the Brazilian man, who is suspected of concocting drugs. The Mexican man, who has been in Bali since 2012 and is allegedly in the top level of their network, was arrested later.
“We are still running the investigation. The entry of the cocaine will most likely come from Europe, because this cocaine entry route is specific,” Sugianyar said. “It is produced in South America, sent to Europe, and from Europe it is spread to other countries, including through Indonesia.”
The drug network the three men are allegedly involved in is known to target foreigners in some popular tourist areas in southern Bali.
“Bali is the destination for foreign tourists. But we should remember that some of them are also part of the crime – one of them is narcotics,” Sugianyar said.
He added that the suspects would be punished according to Indonesia’s Narcotics Law, with five years’ imprisonment at minimum and a death sentence at maximum as both dealers and distributors of various types of drugs.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major smuggling hub in part because international drug syndicates target its young population. Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency estimates there are 5.6 million drug users in the country of 270 million people.
