Batam Entry Way To Narcotic Drugs To Indonesia

Batam, Riau Islands, April 24 (Antara) - Batam City has so far become the main entryway of narcotic smuggling from abroad to other regions in the country, Chief of the National Narcotic Agency (BNN), Anang Iskandar said. "Most narcotic drugs from Malaysia entered through Batam and from there to Jakarta," he said on the sidelines of a technical meeting on the implementation of integrated interdiction 2013 here on Wednesday. Based on several narcotic syndicates that have been uncovered by BNN it was found that the biggest part of narcotic smuggling was carried out through Batam, an island in the Sumatran province of Riau Islands, although in percentage it was still below 50 percent. Batam`s strategic location which is close to several neighboring countries has made it become the main entryway for illegal goods, he said. "In Batam there are a lot of traditional ports that have been used as entryways," he said. Besides Batam, Malaysia also has many traditional ports which are not watched to make traffic of illegal goods to often happens, he added. According to a research by the state-run University of Indonesia`s Health Education Center (Pusdikkes), 80 percent of narcotic drugs entered Indonesia through the sea. "They are carried in containers or by fishermen or passenger ships. We have once caught one of them carrying a huge amount," he said. BNN hoped through the meeting an integrated operating reference could be found to prevent entry of narcotic drugs from other countries to Indonesia by air, land or sea, he said. He said the reference is needed to reduce distribution and use of illegal drugs as well as cut and destroy national as well as international narcotic drugs syndicates.