Pubdate: Mon, 19 May 2014 Source: Jakarta Post (Indonesia) Copyright: The Jakarta Post Contact: http://www.thejakartapost.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/645 Author: Ni Komang Erviani Page: 2 BNN WARNS OF INCREASED DRUG TRAFFICKING With the school and summer holidays approaching, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Bali office says it will work closely with the police, airport and port managements and related agencies to foil any drug smuggling and trafficking attempts in Bali. "The holiday season [between June and August] has not yet arrived but we have already dealt with two major drug cases within the space of a week," BNN Bali chief I Gusti Ketut Budhiarta told journalists over the weekend. Budhiarta said many drug smuggling cases in Bali occurred during the holiday period. Last Wednesday, Bali learned of the "smuggling" of 715 grams of crystal methamphetamine, locally known as shabu-shabu, into the island from South Africa via mail. Two days later on Friday, Ngurah Rai International Airport customs officers arrested a 84-year-old Madurese man for attempting to enter Bali carrying 2.5 kilograms of shabu-shabu, valued at around Rp 5 billion (US$438,116). The man was identified as Arsain Bin Anwar, a passenger of a Malindo Air flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and found to have three plastic bags concealed in his luggage: Two were hidden inside the lining of his backpack and another inside his suitcase, hidden in a folded mukena (female prayer cloak). "The holiday season is a time where Bali welcomes 100,000s of domestic and foreign tourists. Based on previous cases, illicit drug dealers and traffickers may take advantage of this season," Budhiarta said. The Bali provincial administration has set the ambitious target of welcoming 4 million foreign tourists and 6 million domestic tourists in 2014. "Ngurah Rai has often been used as an entrance for drug smugglers before they distribute drugs to other destinations in Indonesia," added Budhiarta. Wayan Rideng, a criminologist from Panji Sakti University in Singaraja, Buleleng, previously said that narcotic-related crimes were complex, so investigators needed to understand the intricate workings of drug syndicates and be alert as to how traffickers disguised their activities, Rideng said. Local narcotics crime was likely connected to national and international drug syndicates, he said. Bali was a hotbed of drug trafficking involving locals and foreigners, couriers and dealers, Rideng added. Foreigners and Indonesians from outside Bali are a common sight on the island, the nation's most popular tourist destination. "Disguised as tourists, drug traffickers have been able to smuggle cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy pills, crystal methamphetamine and other drugs in and out of Bali," he said. "Bali is a perfect transit place for these crimes. Kuta and other famous tourist sites are known danger zones." Separately, Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, the head of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Tourism Industry Association (GIPI), admitted that many foreigners took advantage of the country's weak security at its international gateways to conduct various illegal activity including drug trafficking. But Wijaya also blamed the government's move to prioritize high numbers of incoming tourists to boost its income. "Here [in Bali], anyone can arrive as long as they pay a visa on arrival fee. Some people come here to run illegal business, including drug trafficking," he said. A survey jointly conducted by BNN and the University of Indonesia's (UI) center for health research estimated that the number of active drug users in Bali was at 50,553 people, or 1.8 percent of the island's 4 million population in 2012. Illegal drug trafficking to Bali involves hundreds of people from various countries including Australia, China, Iran, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand, the UK, the US and some African countries. In addition, there are dozens of high-profile inmates convicted of drug crimes housed in several correctional institutions in Bali. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom