The Indonesian government continues to maintain its hardline rhetoric about the country undergoing a deadly “drug emergency” that has been used to justify their use of the death penalty and, more recently, the sharp increase in drug suspects who were killed after allegedly resisted arrest. But while the police talk tough on drugs, it’s an open secret that the country’s notoriously corrupt prisons are hotbeds of illegal activity, with more than one drug kingpin having been caught continuing their operations behind bars with the help of prison employees.
However, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has had some success catching prison officials suspected of abetting drug dealers. The latest took place on Monday, when BNN officers arrested Cahyono Adhi Satriyanto, the warden of Purworejo Prison Class II B in Central Java’s Purworejo Regency.
BNN Chief Budi Waseso said Cahyono is suspected of having carried out a number of illegal actions on behalf of a drug dealer named Christian Jaya Kusuma AKA Sancai.
According to Budi, evidence of Cahyono’s crimes came from bank records showing money sent to Cahyono from two accounts suspected of transferring the money on Sancai’s behalf.
Sancai was arrested on November 8 in Semarang with 800 grams of crystal methamphetamine. Since he has been in prison, BNN believes that Sancai has channeled hundreds of millions of rupiah into Cahyono’s bank accounts.
“The flow of funds received by the Head of Purworejo Prison from Sancai happened on a regular basis, as many as 18 times, with the transactions totaling IDR313,500,000 (USD22,000),” Budi said as quoted by Tribun.
BNN said Sancai and Cahyono knew each other previously from when Cahyono served as the head of security at Nusakambangan Narcotics Prison, where Sancai was previously a prisoner.
Cahyono and the two people suspected of sending money to his account on Sancai’s behalf are being charged with violating laws on money laundering and narcotics trafficking with a maximum sentence of 15 years.
In June, BNN announced that they had discovered a drug criminal living in a “luxury cell” at East Jakarta’s Cipinang Prison, complete with AC, wifi and even an aquarium. The warden, who claimed to have no knowledge of the prisoner’s deluxe accommodations, was fired.
