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In addition to conducting random drug tests on pilots and stewards, the Transportation Ministry and National Narcotics Agency will extend testing to ship captains and their crews in a bid to reduce drug-related accidents.

Transportation Minister E.E Mangindaan said on Sunday that captains and their crew would be detained and forbidden from entering their ships if tests showed drugs use. They will also lose their sailing permits.

The drug crackdown will not disrupt sailing schedules, Mangindaan added, because there are normally five captains or officers who sail any given ship.

“Any seaman found using [drugs] will be banned from sailing, but the [ship’s] schedule will continue normally because there are still other officers on board,” he said at an anti-narcotics event in Jakarta.

He said the random drug checks would be conducted on a wide range of personnel.

“We will test not only ship operators but also the harbor masters,” he said.

The ministry will also check instructors and cadets at the nation’s transportation schools, including aviation, shipping, railway and land transportation schools.

Bobby R. Mamahit, head of the ministry’s human resources development agency, confirmed regular tests would be conducted on aviation and shipping students, who already take drug tests when they apply for school.

Anyone found using drugs will be dropped or discharged from school immediately, he said.

“We’ll go to the schools and remind the students not to touch drugs because the sanction is getting discharged from school,” Bobby said.

“Random and impromptu checks are quite effective in preventing drugs from entering the campus.”

Mangindaan said he would also discharge his own ministry officials if they were caught using drugs. The ministry has been conducting random internal drug tests on its staff members since last week.

The minister reminded transportation operators to prevent the use of drugs in their respective work areas through tight employee supervision.

He also called on airlines to become more active in preventing drug use among pilots, saying the standard three-month wait between drug checks had been ineffective.

Instead, he said, tests should be conducted before each flight.

Three pilots were caught using narcotics during a random check at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport recently, while three pilots managed to escape the test.

The pilots’ federation has said its 6,000 members are ready to comply with the ministry’s random drug checks.

Investor Daily