3 drug smugglers sentenced to death

JAKARTA (JP): Judge Asep Iwan Irawan of the Tangerang District Court handed down the death sentence on Tuesday for defendants Deni Setya Maharwan, 28, Ranni Andriani, 25, and Merika Franola alias Ola, 30, for being part of an international drug ring and attempting to smuggle cocaine out of Indonesia.

"The defendants have been proven in court to be international drug smugglers. They deserve death sentences," Asep said.

The sentence for defendant Ola was exactly the same as demanded by prosecutor Mursidi, who had demanded life sentences for defendants Deni and Ranni.

"The defendants have violated the 1997 Narcotics Law, for attempting to smuggle cocaine into London," prosecutor Mursidi said in an early hearing.

Paragraph 1a of Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics trade and distribution carries the death penalty and a fine of Rp 1 billion.

City Police detectives seized six kilograms of cocaine and US$3,000 in cash on Jan. 12 from defendant Ranni Andriani, and five kilograms of cocaine and $3,000 in cash from defendant Deni Setya Maharwan at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

Both couriers were about to board a London-bound Cathay Pacific flight via Hong Kong at the time of their arrest.

Prosecutor Mursidi said earlier that defendant Ola had on several occasions, "ordered the two other defendants, Deni Setya Maharwan and Ranni Andriani, to bring narcotics from Thailand and Pakistan into Indonesia."

Deni, who is a former chief of a subdistrict in Cianjur, West Java, earlier said he went into the trade to pay off debts. (41/ylt)