Police in Jakarta have arrested popular Indonesian stand-up comedian and actor Coki Pardede for alleged drug use.
Coki was arrested at his home in Cisauk district in Tangerang regency, Banten province last night, reportedly still under the influence at the time. According to a statement, authorities found a package containing half a gram pack of crystal meth, locally known as shabu, during the arrest.
Coki told the police that he obtained the drug from a woman identified by her initial W, who was also taken into custody from her apartment in South Jakarta last night.
Pratomo Widodo, who heads Tangerang Metro Police’s Narcotics Unit, said that Coki’s urine test came out positive for drug use. Based on the initial investigation, the 33-year-old entertainer has confessed to having used the drug for the past eight months.
Pratomo added that Coki was “addicted” to shabu and has made attempts to stop his consumption. However, he appears to have relapsed and even used the drug through injection, which Pratomo said was “not a common” method.
Both Coki and W, who also tested positive for drug use, are still undergoing questioning at the Tangerang Metro Police HQ.
Coki rose to fame after competing in season four of Kompas TV’s Stand Up Comedy Indonesia in 2014. He competed again in Stand Up Comedy Academy, aired on Indosiar, in 2016. In the past few years, Coki has been pushing the boundaries of dark humor with his partner Tretan Muslim as part of comedy collective Majelis Lucu Indonesia (Indonesian Comedy Assembly).
Coki has been involved in a slew of online controversies, chief among them was when he and Tretan mixed pork and dates together in a satirical cooking video back in 2018. With ork being haram, or forbidden for consumption by Muslims, and dates holding religious significance in Islam, the stunt unsurprisingly sparked calls for the pair to be tried for blasphemy, which never materialized.
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