Indonesia seizes record $590m of meth so far in 2025

Half-year haul exceeds annual seizure of previous 5 years; maritime drug route found

- Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

JAKARTA - Indonesia is on track to record the largest seizure of drugs by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) in six years, said the agency's chief, with confiscation of methamphetamine reaching 3.41 tonnes—with a street value of $590 million—so far in 2025.

This half-year haul has surpassed the annual seizure in the previous five years.

The latest raid in the waters off Batam in mid-May netted a record 2.1 tonnes of methamphetamine, a synthetic drug also known as meth. The amount can feed eight million addicts, with each gram typically consumed by four people.

BNN confiscated less than a tonne for the whole of 2024, and between 2020 and 2023, annually netted between 1.2 tonnes and 2.8 tonnes, according to government data.

Government agencies have also, so far in 2025, seized 2.65 tonnes of other drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine, with a street value of at least $95 million.

In an interview on July 3, BNN chief Marthinus Hukom shed light on a drug-trafficking maritime route spanning Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

"The production was in Myanmar while the vessel was built in Thailand," said Commissioner-General Marthinus, referring to the meth seizure in May.

Large-scale production of meth, combined with an ongoing war in Myanmar since 2021, has driven up the supply of the illicit drug in South-east Asia, said a recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Seizures of meth across the region were at record highs in 2024, totalling 236 tonnes—a 24 per cent increase compared with the 2023 haul, said UNODC.

Meth, a powerful and fast-acting stimulant, can harm a person's heart, teeth and brain if used regularly. It can also cause paranoia, mood swings and memory loss.