Well, it seems like crystal meth, or sabu as it’s known locally, is still in pretty high demand despite the threat of the death penalty, with traffickers still figuring out inventive ways to smuggle sabu in the country (like inside Ferrero Rocher chocolate balls). Not only that, yesterday the police cracked down on meth pipes being sold openly on the streets of Jakarta.
Where else but Glodok? The market in Tamansari, West Jakarta, which is famous for being the go-to place to buy cheap electronics, pirated DVDs, and porn, turns out to be facilitating another one of man’s vices.
“Hundreds of bongs [and meth pipes] were scattered (and being sold) on street sides. The sellers were also casually waiting for customers,” said Tamansari Police Chief AKBP Hermanto, as quoted by Okezone today.
“People from all over Jakarta apparently shop for bongs here.”
Seeing that selling bongs and meth pipes is not exactly against the law (but still a grey area given the items’ relationship to illegal narcotics), the police handed out stern warnings to the sellers not to sell the smoking apparatus anymore, as well as confiscating their products.
We have observed meth pipes being sold openly in Glodok for many years so we have to wonder if this crackdown will last or if all the sellers will be back in the same exact spots next week.
