Jakarta – Transactions worth trillions of rupiah have been traced back to a drug syndicate led by an imprisoned convict, an official said on Friday (19/08).

Pony Chandra, 49, has been serving life imprisonment since 2014, but his drug syndicate was found to have assets worth Rp 2.8 trillion ($212 million) in Indonesia and abroad.

The sum is part of suspicious transactions worth Rp 3.6 trillion that were flagged by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) between 2014 and 2015. The findings were handed to the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNN) four months ago before being disclosed last weekend.

The BNN has confiscated some of the assets while more are currently being pursued overseas, where the funds were funneled through 32 banks and companies.

"All of them are in Asia and Europe," BNN prevention unit deputy chief, Insp. Gen. Arman Depari, told reporters on Friday. He added that his office also arrested three members of Pony's syndicate.

Pony was imprisoned on Nusakambangan Island in Cilacap, Central Java, in 2006 after being sentenced to 20 years for possessing nearly 60,000 ecstasy tablets.

In 2014, Pony was moved to Cipinang penitentiary in East Jakarta – the reason for the transfer remains unclear. Soon he was able to leave the prison to undergo medical treatment.

Later that year he was arrested at his house in North Jakarta and sentenced to life in prison for laundering money generated from drug business he run during incarceration. At that time his confiscated assets were worth Rp 600 million.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jailed-drug-lords-syndicate-found-nearly-rp-3t-assets/