KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia's top narcotics official said on Friday that the use of the death penalty for drug offenses does not deter the use of drugs, smuggling or distribution in the country. Gories Mere, the head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) argued that would-be smugglers and criminals do not appear to be deterred by the use of the death penalty in drug-related crimes in Indonesia. “They're always trying to delay their execution by asking for a remission or pardon,” Mere said on the sidelines of preparations for next week's 29th International Drug Enforcement Conference in Bali, in comments published by The Jakarta Globe. He said that despite the increased use of the death penalty, drug crime in the Southeast Asian nation has increased nearly three times in the past two years. A similar increase had also been flagged by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which said it had recorded three times as much smuggling of amphetamine stimulants and a doubling in marijuana and heroin smuggling cases. There are more than 250 Indonesians now detained overseas for drug-related offenses, mostly in China and Malaysia, Gories said. The latest case in Indonesia involves the attempted smuggling of 351 kilograms of meth, with a street value of Rp 702 billion ($75 million), through Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port. However, Meres did not say whether the government would push to end the death penalty against drug criminals in the country. International rights groups have long called on Indonesia and Malaysia to end the use of capital punishment against drug offenders.
