Jakarta – The Chief of the National Narcotics Agency, Budi Waseso, met President Joko Widodo at the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday to report the cooperation arrangements made with ASEAN countries to deal with drugs circulation.

“Today I reported my experience of working in Batam, Riau Islands with the ASEAN for interdiction cooperation,” Waseso said after his meeting with the President.

Budi vowed that his agency will continue to explore even better ways of eradicating drugs with the Chinese government and a number of countries from where drugs allegedly come into Indonesia.

China is a producer of a particular precursor that can be used to manufacture both legal and designer drugs, he added.

The precursors potential to be used in formulating illegal drugs is what poses a problem.

“Modern warfare does not involve firearms. Rather, the lethal weapon is drugs. This is what we are trying to combat as this has become a global problem,” the Chief argued.

The President has asked the Agency to continue coordinating with anti-drug institutions of countries suspected to have supplied illicit drugs to Indonesia.

“He hopes that the drug issue can be resolved by dealing with it in the countries where these are manufactured before these can reach Indonesia,” Waseso concluded. (ANT)