Indonesia Probes Police Personnel Allegedly Receiving Funds from Drug Business

Jakarta, 16 Dzulqa’dah 1437/19 August 2016 (MINA) – Indonesian investigators were probing the allegation that police personnel received a huge amount of money from drug cartels, police said on Thursday.

The move came after a publication of a testimony from drug lord Freddy Budiman, who was executed on July 29, that personnel of police, armed force and the National Anti-narcotic Agency (BNN) had received funds from his drug business.

President Joko Widodo has allowed a joint team comprising investigators from police, military and the agency to investigate the allegation as he has been strongly committed to combating drug trafficking in the country.

“The investigation aims to find out whether there is criminal violation. The investigators focus on measures to find out whether police personnel have received 90 billion rupiah (6.829 million U.S. dollars),” Xinhua quoted National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian as saying at the police headquarters.

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The general said the investigators would also question the followers of Budiman to verify the veracity of his testimony.

Indonesia also executed three drug convicts from Senegal and Nigeria on July 29. Last year, 14 drug convicts, most of them foreigners, faced firing squad in Indonesia.

The anti-narcotic agency has also cooperated with Bank Indonesia (BI), the country’s central bank, to supervise and trace transactions suspected of being involved in drug business.

President Widodo has declared a war against drug abuse as its impact has been on an alarming level. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)