DEA, BNN FORGE COOPERATION TO STAMP OUT DRUG GROUPS

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and the United States' Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) are collaborating to curb the business of drug syndicates.

The initial phase of the cooperation was a 10-day training course for
narcotics detectives, organized by BNN and DEA, from Aug. 2 to Aug. 11 in
Jakarta. The participants were not only Jakarta Police detectives but also
those from other big cities in the country.

"(Besides that), we will form an intelligence center to collect advanced
information on international drug networks," Jakarta Police chief Insp.
Gen. Firman Gani said on Friday on the sidelines of the official
destruction of drugs worth Rp 13.52 billion (US$1.47 million) at the
headquarters.

He pointed out that it was too time consuming and taxing to concentrate
only on raiding suspected spots where drug deals frequently take place.

"There will be more significant results if we can trace the source of the
drugs and arrest the big fish," he said.

Firman said that the police had worked maximally to stamp out drugs, but
they needed to improve their working system to be able to trace the
syndicates that continuously change the way they operate.

City police chief of narcotics detectives Sr. Comr. Carlo Brix Tewu
explained that the DEA officers would provide more training in the future
to improve Indonesian detectives' skills in dealing with drug syndicates.

The DEA will also give hardware and software to improve the police force's
working system.

Some of the DEA instructors, who were scheduled to fly back to the United
States on Friday afternoon, also witnessed the destruction of the drugs at
the headquarters.

A total of 5.4 kilograms of cocaine, 68.5 grams of heroin, 13.33 kilograms
of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) were dissolved in saltwater, while
168.3 kilograms of marijuana and 31,882 ecstasy pills were burned.

"By confiscating and destroying the drugs, we managed to prevent an
estimated 734,298 drug abusers from using the drugs," Carlo said. "The
estimation is based on the average consumption of drugs by abusers, such as
a gram of shabu-shabu can be used by 10 people."

The drugs were seized from 17 suspects working for 10 different syndicates,
including Rodrigo Gularte, a Brazilian national who was arrested attempting
to smuggle six kilograms of cocaine into the country inside surfboards.

Gularte and other suspects also witness the destruction of the drugs.

The police put aside 600 grams of the cocaine to be used as evidence in court.