Police Raid Drug Den in Clove Plantation; Two People Arrested

Joint security forces raided a drug den in the Kebun Cengkeh area, Batu Merah Village, Sirimau Sub-district, Ambon City, Maluku, on Sunday evening (18 October).

During the raid, the police managed to arrest two residents. One person, however, managed to escape.

A chase ensued between the joint task force and the fugitive in the middle of the Sagu Forest.

The fugitive attempted to flee the raid after realising that the joint task force had arrived at the scene of the drug party.

As officers approached the stall, he quickly sprang from his seat and immediately plunged down the mountainside.

The lack of lighting and the rugged mountainous terrain left the joint task force struggling to apprehend the suspect.

The suspect eventually managed to evade the police by pushing through the thorny sago trees.

Meanwhile, two suspects who were caught in the act of taking drugs inside a hut with a thatched roof and bamboo walls were immediately taken to Ambon City Police Headquarters in the Perigi Lima area for intensive questioning.

Upon their arrest, they offered no resistance whatsoever; from the raid site, the police secured a number of pieces of evidence, ranging from three bladed weapons, CCTV equipment, a bow and arrow, a meth pipe, to packets of methamphetamine.

The following morning, local residents who had heard of the raid flocked to the scene. They watched as the building, which had been used as a drug den, was demolished until it was levelled to the ground.

The Director of the Maluku Regional Police’s Narcotics Investigation Division, Senior Superintendent Indera Gunawan, stated that the raid on a drug den in the Kebun Cengkeh area was the result of a manhunt for a wanted drug suspect who was in hiding in the Kebun Cengkeh area.

He explained that whilst the raid was underway, the fugitive managed to escape, whilst two of his accomplices were apprehended.

“We carried out a raid in Kebun Cengkeh whilst we were pursuing a wanted drug suspect; that night, we arrested two people, whilst one suspect fled into the forest,” he said when met in his office on Monday (19/10).

He explained that Kebun Cengkeh is one of the neighbourhoods in Ambon, Maluku, where drug trafficking is rife. According to his department, illicit drug transactions frequently take place there because there are both users and buyers in the area.

“From the village’s perspective, it is indeed prone to drug activity, so transactions take place, and there are also users and buyers,” he said.

Nevertheless, he added, his team is not solely focused on Kebun Cengkeh, but also on other areas in Ambon City.