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Indonesia’s aviation industry has admitted concern over widespread drug use, and the House of Representatives will summon Lion Air management after the arrest of a Lion pilot for drug use in Surabaya on Saturday, the second such case in two months.
Indonesia National Air Carriers Association secretary general Tengku Burhanuddin said the use of drugs among airline crews had tainted the industry’s image, and he called on the government to take quick action to crack down on the circulation of drugs.
“This case has shown that drugs have become a national problem because it could have been among anybody, including pilots,” he said. “We call on the government to do its part and not just depend on us.”
Tengku asked the government to permanently ban pilots by withdrawing their licenses instead of just temporarily grounding them if they were caught using illicit drugs.
“License withdrawal and being blacklisted from all airlines would be a very heavy punishment that could prevent more widespread use of drugs,” Tengku said.
Police in Surabaya arrested the Lion Air pilot, identified as 44-year-old Syaiful Salam, who had been caught with 0.4 grams of methamphetamine and a meth pipe in a Surabaya hotel room during a pre-dawn bust on Saturday. He was scheduled to go on duty at 6 a.m.
Sr. Comr. Bambang Triyanto, the East Java Police’s anti-narcotics director, confirmed on Saturday that the raid had been carried out jointly with the BNNP, the provincial branch of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN).
Jan D. Fretes, the head of the BNNP, said officials were treating the case seriously because of the safety implications had the pilot flown while under the influence.
“This relates to public safety and we want to avoid an air accident caused by the actions of a pilot who is high on drugs,” he said.
Jan said the bust had been based on information from a Lion Air pilot who was arrested last month for meth possession.
Jan said Syaiful claimed to have bought the drugs from a Surabaya dealer identified only as Y.S. Police are still looking for the dealer.
“He said the dealer delivered the drugs to his room and he paid Rp 300,000 [$34] for them,” he said. He confirmed that Syaiful later tested positive for drug use.
Another pilot, Hanum Aiyaksa, was arrested in a Makassar hotel on Jan. 10 with an undisclosed amount of meth.
Last September, a Lion Air pilot and two co-pilots were arrested in possession of ecstasy and meth. They had bought the drugs prior to flying from Jakarta to Surabaya, but the airline denied they were high during the flight.
Muhammad Arwani Thomafi, a member of the House commission overseeing transportation, said lawmakers would summon the Transportation Minister and Lion Air management.
“We had summoned them previously due to a similar case with a pilot. Why should the same case happen again?” he said.