Law enforcement was busy making busts this past weekend as the Bali division of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) swept three nightlife venues in the Denpasar area on Friday night and Bali Police made an arrest of their own, finding a guy with alleged drugs hidden in candy wrappers and a milk carton.
While BNN has just given the initials of the three clubs raided this weekend to the press, it appears there’s a karaoke club in the mix, as a ‘track guide” was identified as one of the people testing positive for drugs.
The results of the raids uncovered two drug users: a club-goer and a ‘track guide’, said BNN Superintendent Ketut Arta.
“Two people were positive for using drugs,” Arta said on Sunday, as quoted by Tribun Bali.
The raid was held from Friday night at 10:30pm until early Saturday morning at 2:30am, says Arta.
In one of the clubs, that reports only identified as “BS”, officers conducted urine tests on 13 visitors, employees, managers, and tack guides, with everyone coming up negative for narcotics use.
However in the next club, “BL”, urine tests were done on four people, consisting of visitors and staff. That’s where one male was found positive for methamphetamine.
In the third nightlife venue, “JG”, 16 people were tested, including visitors, staff, managers, and track guides. One female track guide at “JG” tested positive for benzodiazepines, says Arta.
The two positive drug users will undergo rehabilitation at BNN Bali on Monday, Arta said.
Meanwhile, Bali Police’s Narcotics Investigation squad working with a police Counter Transnational and Organized Crime (CTOC) team secured a drug user in Abiasnemal, Badung.
IPAP, 27, was arrested on Saturday afternoon around 4:30pm when police raided the suspect and found evidence on him, says Bali Police spokesman Hengky Widjaja.
“We secured the perpetrator carrying a black sling bag, afterwards, the team found drugs on him,” Widjaja told Tribun Bali on Sunday.
The alleged drugs were hidden in a milk box and candy wrappers, according to Widjaja. Inside the milk box was 44.88 net grams of clear crystals, while the candy packaging contained a bag with 0.48 grams of crystals and another bag of 0.70 crystals.
“Other items found that are suspected drug paraphernalia include a black digital scale, a glass pipe,” and two phones, said Widjaja.
While Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world, we’ve seen a real clampdown in Bali this year in particular, as the governor has declared the island’s drug situation in a “state of emergency”. Prior to the governor’s declaration, police have been consistently raiding nightlife venues this year, especially in the capital city, Denpasar. A big win for Bali law enforcement was the Rp 10 billion (USD7 million) ecstasy bust at Denpasar’s Akasaka in June 2017 that ultimately led to the club’s closure.
