A security guard known as Ricard Fajariadi has been arrested by the West Denpasar Police, Bali because he was caught red-handed in possession of marijuana to produce marijuana-flavoured chocolate.
By day, Fajariadi works as a security guard in boarding houses in the Denpasar area. He was arrested at his home in the West Denpasar area on Friday 5th August 2022 at around 1pm local Bali time.
“We managed to secure the marijuana package and in the perpetrator’s room, we got approximately two litres of alcohol-soaked marijuana stems. From the perpetrator’s confession, he intended to cook the water, mix it with chocolate, set it, and then send it out of town,” said the West Denpasar Police Commissioner Made Hendra Agustina, on Monday 8th August 2022.
Fajariadi’s action was uncovered following information obtained by officers that there would be a shipment of marijuana packages from Surabaya, East Java, through the services of an expedition company to the place on Thursday 4th August.
The next day, the police carried out a controlled delivery on the package. After the package was received, the perpetrator was immediately arrested and searched.
The search found that the package contained a bundle of brown duct tape. After opening, the leaves, stems and seeds of marijuana were found with a gross weight of 1,070 grams and a nett weight of 952 grams.
The police also searched Fajariadi’s room and found one large green electric scale, one brown cardboard used to wrap the package, one orange bucket with a blue lid filled with alcohol-infused liquid, and marijuana stems with a gross weight of 2,350 grams.
According to Agustina, the police are still investigating this case. The chocolate medium contains marijuana, which is a new process seen in Indonesian drug trafficking.
Based on his confession, Fajariadi has been making marijuana-flavoured chocolate for three years. However, he did not sell the chocolate to the public. The chocolate would be sent to his older brother, Tomy Rirehena, who is currently languishing in a Sumatran prison on drug charges.
As a result of his actions, Fajariadi was charged with article 111 paragraph (1) and or article 114 paragraph (1) of law number 35 of 2009 concerning narcotics with a threat of five years in prison.