Medan. A newly-installed member of the Tanjung Balai Legislative Council in North Sumatra is apparently a fugitive wanted for drug offenses, the local police said on Thursday.

Mukmin Mulyadi was sworn in as a member of the council on March 29 to fill in the seat vacated by a fellow National Awakening Party (PKB) politician who died before completing his term.

But the North Sumatra Police said Mukmin is being sought for his role in the illicit trade of thousands of ecstasy pills, which are classified as banned narcotics under Indonesia’s tough anti-drug law.

Police now urged Mukmin to surrender because he has been named a suspect since 2020.

Two other suspects in the same case were already in custody since the anti-narcotics squad began to investigate the distribution of around 2,000 ecstasy pills in the city.

"During the preliminary investigation, one of the suspects mentioned [Mukmin] who acted as a middleman, leading investigators to name him a suspect and include him in the fugitive list," North Sumatra Police spokesman Chief Comr. Hadi Wahyudi told reporters in Medan.

The officer said a summons was sent to Mukmin earlier in the day but the suspect didn’t show up citing medical reasons.

Hadi urged Mukmin to become cooperative in the investigation and “face the legal proceedings in a proper manner”. 

It’s not clear why it took more than two weeks since Mukmin made a public appearance for the swearing-in ceremony until the police sent the summons.