Tigers, Piranhas May Join Crocodile Guards at Indonesia Jail

After sparking ridicule with a proposal to build a prison island for drug convicts surrounded by crocodiles, Indonesia’s anti-drugs czar has now gone further — revealing in November 2015 he also wants tigers and piranhas as guards.

In an idea that seemed straight out of a James Bond film, Budi Waseso unveiled the prison island plan, explaining that crocodiles can’t be bribed by drug traffickers seeking to escape from jail.

The head of the national anti-drugs agency embarked on a tour of the country to find “the most ferocious type of crocodile” to guard the jail, which is to be for drug convicts who have been sentenced to death.

He faced widespread mockery over the plan. But far from backing down, Waseso said he was considering the addition of man-eating piranhas and tigers as guards.

“It is also possible we may use piranhas, and because the number of personnel at the prison might not be enough, we can also use tigers,” he said.

Indonesia already has some of the toughest anti-narcotics laws in the world, including death by firing squad for traffickers. It sparked an international uproar in April 2015 when it put to death seven foreign drug convicts.

President Joko Widodo has insisted that drug dealers must face death because the country is fighting a “national emergency” due to rising narcotics use.

“This is serious, this is not a joke,” said anti-drugs agency spokesman Slamet Pribadi. “Drug trafficking is an extraordinary crime and therefore the fight must also be extraordinary. We cannot fight the usual way.”

The Associated Press