Depok Police have arrested tattoo artist Riko Afandi in West Java for allegedly distributing crystal meth, locally known as sabu-sabu.

Riko, 34, who was recently released after serving a four-year prison term for a similar crime, claimed that he used the money he made from distributing drugs to fund umrah (minor pilgrimage) and to cover the costs of childbirth.

“The drug money was used for my mother's umrah and [for] my wife to give birth to [our] second child,” Riko said Tuesday at the Depok Police station, as quoted by kompas.com.

Riko said he had been distributing drugs for three years, but that he did not know the identity of the head of the drug trafficking ring.

“I’ve never met my boss, as I was instructed by phone to deliver the drugs,” he said. He said that he usually secured the drug package to an electricity pole for the customer to retrieve.

Riko said he was paid Rp 200,000 (US$14) for each gram of crystal meth, and that he once earned Rp 20 million for delivering 500 grams of meth.

Depok Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Arya Perdana said that police had been tracking Riko since last December, and that he had been charged under the Narcotics Law, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison or a Rp 1.5 billion fine.

“We are still hunting down the [head of the drug trafficking ring],” he added. (fac)