'You can't bribe crocodiles': one of Indonesia's top ministers says anti-drugs chief was only joking. Photo: AP

Jakarta: Indonesia's anti-drugs chief was "only joking" when he talks about ferocious crocs becoming the nation's latest prison guards, according to one of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's most trusted ministers.

"I think he's only joking," the co-ordinating minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Luhut Panjaitan, said in an interview with Fairfax Media.

But he confirmed part of the story: the Indonesian government has decided to build separate jails for drug offenders and terrorists to isolate them from the rest of the prison community.

Indonesian cabinet minister Luhut Panjaitan says Jakarta wants drugs offenders and terror prisoners held separately to the general prison population. Photo: www.luhutpandjaitan.com

"We want to have special jails for drugs (criminals) to avoid them communicating with regular prisoners," said Mr Panjaitan,  formerly Mr Joko's chief of staff.

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"We'll have three types of prisons later on: prison for terrorists, prison for drug offenders and regular prisons."

To the delight of headline writers worldwide, National Narcotics Agency chief Budi Waseso is doing a whistlestop tour of Indonesia inspecting crocodiles that might be fierce enough to guard drug offenders isolated on a remote island.

Indonesian military hold training exercises near Nusakambangan prison. Photo: James Brickwood

"You can't bribe crocodiles. You can't convince them to let inmates escape," Mr Budi reportedly said.

He warmed to his theme in the Jakarta Post: "If a drug dealer were to be mauled by crocodiles, it is not a human rights violation, unlike if the person was shot and killed by authorities, as we can be blamed for violating human rights."

Mr Panjaitan told Fairfax Media that while the crocodiles might be a "joke", the government was searching for suitable remote locations to build prisons for drug offenders.

Mourners at the funeral in May of Myuran Sukumaran, who was convicted in Indonesia of drug trafficking and executed. Photo: James Brickwood

He said 75 per cent of convicted drug dealers continued to run their business from behind prison bars: "This is very bad. We would like to avoid the possibility of phone communication with outsiders." 

The Indonesian government estimates that there are 5.1 million to 5.6 million drug users in Indonesia, up from 4.2 million in 2011. Mr Panjaitan said there was mandatory medical and social rehabilitation for narcotics addicts, whom he described as victims.

Drug trafficking also carries the death penalty in Indonesia. Fourteen people were executed by firing squad in Indonesia this year, including Bali nine heroin smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Radicalising influence: former Jemaah Islamiah spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir, front row centre, is photographed with the Islamic State flag inside Nusakambangan prison. Photo: supplied

However the softening economy, the international backlash and a desire to attract foreign investment have dampened talk of a further round of executions in the near future, although many prisoners remain on death row.

"We are still very busy with our economy," Mr Panjaitan said, when asked about executions.

Meanwhile, he said, the Indonesian government had also decided two weeks ago to build a separate prison for terrorists.

Radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, known as the spiritual leader of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah, is now incarcerated on Nusakambangan island with regular prisoners.

"You can imagine Bashir preaches to normal prisoners while his ideology is radical, he can brainwash them," Mr Panjaitan said. "So we are going to build a special prison for terrorists as well as for drug (criminals)."

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