26th July, 2017
Indonesia’s anti-drugs chief, frustrated by rampant drug trade in prisons, has suggested jails be guarded by ghosts because they cannot be bribed, a local media reports said on Wednesday.
The online edition of the newspaper Media Indonesia reported that Budi Waseso, the head of the National Narcotics Agency, said 50 per cent of drug trade was controlled by drug dealers from prisons.
“Ghosts cannot be bribed, probably costing only incense,’’ he was quoted as saying, in apparent tongue-in-cheek remarks.
In 2015, Waseso suggested that the government build a prison on an island guarded by crocodiles to hold drug convicts to prevent them from escaping.
Recently, Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered police to shoot drug dealers if they resisted arrest, in remarks that drew comparison to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs.
“Let us be firm, especially to foreign drug traffickers entering the country.
“If they resist, even a little, just shoot them, there should be no mercy, Joko said.
His remarks came after the national police chief, Tito Karnavian, said that shooting suspected drug traffickers had proven to be an effective deterrent.
Report says Indonesia imposes tough penalties for drug offences.
Since Joko took office in 2014, Indonesia has executed 18 people for drug trafficking, defying international calls for mercy.