More students in Yogyakarta fall prey to online drug sales

The strategy used by drug syndicates to sell drugs over the Internet had not only saw a Malaysian student getting arrested, but also saw several other university students being lured and falling prey to the syndicate. The syndicate's modus operandi was by offering drugs over the Internet, collecting payment through automated teller machine's (ATM) transaction and sending an SMS with specific address to the buyer to collect the drugs. Sharing the lock-up cell with the Malaysian student at the Sleman police headquarters last Friday were five other university students who were arrested for the same offence. According to the police, in the previous anti-drug operation, 46 people were arrested, 34 of whom were university students. Sleman police headquarters narcotics division chief ASP Heri Yugo said the modus operandi used by the drug syndicates in Yogyakarta had made it difficult for the police to detect their operation. So far, police had only managed to arrest drug mules at major airports, besides a buyer who were collecting the purchased drugs left by the syndicate at the given location, he said. He said those arrested were also unable to help the police in the investigation as they had never met the people who sold the drugs. The phone numbers used by the syndicates during the process could no longer be contacted after the transaction was completed, while initial investigation also found that the bank account was registered in far places such as Jayapura, Papua, he said. When met at the Sleman police headquarters last Wednesday, the 22-year-old Malaysian student, who was nabbed for possession of 68.93gm of cannabis, said he ordered the drug out of curiosity. He said the drug was offered through the MIRC chatroom. The student said he had just collected and held the package containing the drug for about five minutes and had yet to see the content when he was arrested by the police. When asked whether the syndicates had purposely targeted students as their potential buyers, Heri said it did not matter as the syndicates were only aimed at making profits.