Balipost.com and Kompas.com have reported that National and Bali Provincial Police are continuing their investigation to determine if there was any discernable foreign involvement or backing in connection with a major police bust on Monday, 18 November 2024, surrounding a narcotics factory discovered located in a luxury villa on Jalan Cempaka Gading, Ungasan – Uluwatu, South Bali.
Police Commissioner Wahyu Widada told the press that police were examining the possibility that the case has links with an international narcotics network. Police suspicions of foreign involvement were strengthened by their belief that the Bali drug factory was manufacturing hashish destined for sale overseas.
Police investigations in connection with the Bali narcotics factory resulted from an initial discovery of 25 kilograms of hashish in Yogyakarta shipped to Holland in September 2024. Police were subsequently able to trace the hashish confiscated in Yogyakarta back to its place of production in Bali.
Commenting further, Officer Wahyu said the laboratory equipment seized by police in Bali came from Mainland China (PRC). The subject equipment, according to police, is typically used for the manufacture of hashish and large quantities of the psychotropic narcotic “Happy Five.”
Police say the Bali narcotic “factory” has been operating for two months from a villa rented for Rp. 2 million per day. Police believe the narcotics factory regularly changed addresses to avoid detection or raising the suspicions of neighbors. Police have identified locales on Jalan Gatot Subroto in Denpasar and a building in Padangsambian in Denpasar as previous locations used before opening the narcotics factory in Uluwatu.
At the Uluwatu crime scene, police uncovered laboratory equipment and raw materials waiting to be processed into finished narcotics for eventual sale.
During the Bali police raid, four people were taken into custody, together with Rp. 1.5 trillion in cash, 53,210 “Happy Five” pills, and 30 kilograms of hashish – all seized in the raid. Police are withholding the names of the four people now held in police custody while police are still seeking a further four people involved in the narcotics factory.
The police openly named one suspect, Denny Akbar Hidayat (28), who is under medical care at the Trijata Police Hospital in Bali. Police have identified four more people in police custody, but only by their initials: MR (30), RR (25), and N (27).
“Happy Five,” a narcotic also known as “Erimin Five” or “nimetazepam,” is a prescription drug used to treat severe insomnia. Considered a strong pharmaceutical, Erimin Five should only be dispensed under the care of a physician due to possible side effects and the dangers of dependency.
When police formally charge the suspects in this case, they may be charged under Article 114 Paragraph 2 and Article 132 Paragraph 2 of Narcoric Law Number 35 of 2009, carrying possible prison penalties of up to 20 years. Other potential charges facing the eventual defendants are sections of Indonesia’s Psychotropic Narcotics Law punishable by life in prison and charges connected with money laundering.
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