Indonesia police arrest 39 people linked to regional drug syndicate

Indonesian police in a joint operation with Thai and Malaysian authorities this week arrested 39 people allegedly linked to a major regional drug syndicate that has amassed hundreds of millions in assets.
The suspects, arrested across the three countries, are linked to a “structured” syndicate that traffics methamphetamine out of the ‘Golden Triangle’ – an intersection of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos that has a long history producing illegal narcotics – to countries like Indonesia, police said.
The network is run by Indonesian national Fredy Pratama, who remains at large, and has since 2020 amassed more than 10.5 trillion rupiah ($683.73 million) in assets including real estate, said Wahyu Widada, chief of Indonesian national police’s criminal investigation department.
It was unclear whether the syndicate remains in operation.