DRUG CASES RISE BY 31% IN 2005

Jakarta Police have revealed in their year-end report that cases of
illicit drug use, production and trafficking increased by 31.88
percent in 2005.

"Police handled 5,948 drug cases in 2005, a significant increase from
the 4,510 cases in the previous year," Jakarta Police chief Insp.
Gen. Firman Gani said at Jakarta Police Headquarters on Sunday.

Firman said that police managed to apprehend over than 7,780
suspects, of which only 473 were women.

"At least 27 of the suspects nabbed were foreigners," he said, adding
that police seized 5.6 kilograms of heroin, 72.7 grams of crystal
methamphetamine (known locally as shabu-shabu), 205,270 ecstasy pills
and another 1,792,887 psychotropic pills from the suspects.

"Out of the total suspects, we have sent 3,092 suspects to the
prosecutors as drug dealers and another 4,686 suspects as drug
users," Firman said.

Non-governmental organizations working to fight drug abuse have
warned that one of the main legal flaws in the country in the war
against drug abuse is that people caught by police in possession of
illicit drugs, especially drug addicts, are being treated as ordinary
criminals instead of people in need of rehabilitation.

The fight against the drug trade gained new urgency last year
following a shocking report released by the Jakarta Narcotics Agency
last month that the number of Jakarta residents living with HIV/AIDS
rose by 34 percent in 2005 year, to 3,373 cases from 2,505 cases in
the previous year with 60 percent of the people also active injecting
drug users (IDUs) and over 50 percent of them between 20 years old
and 29 years old.

Activists estimate that there are between 10,000 and 15,000 IDUs in
the capital, who face a higher risk of contracting HIV by sharing
needles.

BNP Jakarta chairman Fauzi Bowo, who is also the Jakarta deputy
governor told The Jakarta Post over the weekend that his
administration would flex its muscles by pushing more subdistrict
offices to take an active role in drug prevention programs in their
respective communities.

"Next year, hopefully, we can select an additional 50 subdistricts
from the current 10 subdistricts to receive more funds to finance
their drug prevention programs," Fauzi said.

He emphasized that community-based programs would be preferable in
the future since such programs could better contain the illegal business.