Indonesia might build a prison for drug dealers on an island surrounded by crocodiles

Officials in Indonesia have a new plan for convicted drug dealers: leaving them on a deserted island surrounded by crocodiles.

Budi Waseso, the head of Indonesia’s anti-drug agency, told the local news website Tempo this week that there would be no human guards and the prisoners would be left to their own.

“We will place as many crocodiles as we can there,” Waseso said, according to a translation by the Washington Post. “I will look for crocodiles of the most vicious kind.”

There was a simple explanation for using reptile guards, he explained: “You cannot bribe a crocodile. You cannot convince them to let the prisoners escape.”

Food would be delivered to the island, but otherwise there’d be no connections with the mainland, he said.

It’s not clear exactly how serious Waseso is being. The country is planning to build a new prison for drug dealers, AFP reported. Currently, convicted drug dealers are kept on Nusakambangan Island, a secluded prison known as “execution island,” but no crocodiles are involved.

Indonesia has some of the most strict anti-drug laws in the world. It executed eight convicted drug dealers—including seven foreigners—earlier this year by firing squad, after condemnation from human rights groups and other countries.