(6/22/2009)
Bali Police officials' attempts to undertake a drugs and narcotics sweep of Kerobokan prison on Thursday, June 19, 2009, collapsed when angry inmates refused the order of armed police personnel to return to their cells. According to local press reports, some of the prisoners verbally abused and threw stones at the contingent of three truckloads of armed police drawn from the police's mobile brigade together with narcotics and intelligence officers from the Bali police headquarters.
Fearing injuries on both side if police pressed ahead with the sweeping raid, police decided to withdraw to plan their next move to curb rampant drug usage at Bali's largest, overcrowded prison facility.
One lead officer in the raid told Kompas.com that he suspected plans for the raid had been leaked in advance to the prisoners allowing them to organize a unified resistance.
Past raids by police at the prison have uncovered drugs, weapons and illegal cell phones.
A showdown between prisoners and police looms as a police spokesman pledged that the raids will be rescheduled in the near future.
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