Bandaacehnews.id | They came without warning. By 9am on Wednesday (4 Nov), a joint team of police, corrections officials and narcotics officers had moved into the Class IIB Banda Aceh Detention Centre, and within hours they had pulled a stash of sharp and dangerous objects out of the inmates’ living quarters.
Knives. Scissors. Razor blades. Nails. A screwdriver. Spoons and matches, too, among other items that have no place behind bars.
Yet the one thing investigators were most keen to find was nowhere to be seen. No narcotics turned up in the search.
Three blocks, 430 inmates
The surprise operation swept through three housing blocks that hold about 430 inmates. It was carried out by personnel from the Banda Aceh City Police, the Aceh Regional Office of the Directorate General of Corrections and the Banda Aceh Narcotics Agency (BNK), working alongside the detention centre’s own staff.
Before a single cell was searched, everyone gathered for a briefing. Led by Banda Aceh City Police deputy chief AKBP Benny Bathara, the team was walked through how the operation would run, including what to do the moment a dangerous item was discovered.
The briefing proved relevant. Officers did find dangerous items, in numbers that underline why such checks matter.
“No more prohibited items”
Mr Edi Mulyono, head of the security and order division at the Aceh regional corrections office, described the raid as a preventive move, aimed at stopping banned goods from ever reaching the facility.
“We hope this raid will benefit everyone, so that no more prohibited items get in, whether drugs, mobile phones, sharp weapons or even firearms,” he said.
His list was a telling one, ranging from narcotics to firearms. He stressed that such items are barred from prisons and detention centres because they threaten security and order. Should anything banned be found, he said, the detention centre would handle it according to regulations.
A broader campaign
For the police, the raid was about more than one facility. AKBP Benny said it was part of the national police chief’s Quick Wins programme, carried out under the tagline “Police Together with the Community”.
“This raid is an effort by the Banda Aceh City Police to support the fight against narcotics, including guarding against the misuse of detention facilities for unlawful activities. Oversight must be continuous, through coordination and cooperation across agencies,” he said.
The operation also supports Zero Halinar, an initiative to rid correctional facilities of illegal mobile phones, illicit levies and drugs. Officials said the search doubled as an early-warning exercise: to detect potential security threats, block smuggling, enforce discipline among inmates and keep the cells safe and orderly.
The drug question
If any suspicion hung over the detention centre, the police sought to address it directly. Banda Aceh City Police operations chief Kompol Mawardi confirmed that the search yielded no narcotics.
Officers went a step further, testing the urine of several detainees chosen at random.
“No drugs were found. We also conducted random urine tests on several detainees, and there was no indication of drug use,” he said.
But the absence of drugs did not mean the absence of risk. Mr Mawardi said every dangerous item discovered had to be seized, because such objects could endanger the safety of inmates and officers alike.
He said the police and the detention centre would keep working closely, including in assisting with the examination of inmates, to guard against escape attempts and to keep them safe and comfortable throughout their rehabilitation.
The final reckoning
The confiscated items will not be returned to circulation. Mr Hidayat, head of security at the detention centre, said everything found would be reported to the centre’s leadership for follow-up.
“From the search, we found a number of items that are not allowed in detention centres or prisons. We will report the findings to our superiors, and the items will then be destroyed,” he said.
