Police Confiscate Ganja-Laced Ciggies: West Nusa Tenggara

Don't you love it when the Indonesian police make a big drug bust and then turn around red-faced because it was only a minor offence.

In Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara the police confiscated at least 138 packs of cigarettes containing marijuana.

Officers from the narcotics division said that the cigarettes
confiscated bore the trademark BR and were produced by a Jakarta based cigarette company identified only by its initials as PT SBAS. What tickled me was that the senior commander of the narcotics division said that the investigation has been going on for a long time, in fact nearly one month. Yep, sure was a big drug bust!.

Laboratory tests confirm the cigarettes contain marijuana based on laboratory tests from the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency in Mataram. "As marijuana is classified as a first level narcotic substance police have to take action" a police spokesman, Basri said.

Basri further explained that the BR cigarettes were completely different from ordinary ones as they bore a written message: Nicotine free and not recommended for those who are not accustomed to smoking. That was nice of them to put a warning on the packet. It should have read - 'The contents of this packet may send you into fits of laughter and give you a bad dose of the munchies'

Police are currently searching for the same product in a number of shopping centres throughout Mataram. The police also plan to test the cigarettes at the police forensic laboratory in Bali to verify the results.