Accused drug dealer may get 8 months

TANGERANG, West Java (JP): The prosecutor in the trial of a 37-year-old man charged with trying to hawk 711 Ecstasy pills demanded at the Tangerang District Court yesterday that the defendant be sentenced to eight months imprisonment.

Prosecutor R. Saragih told the court that the defendant, FAP alias Afon, was proven guilty of trafficking the pills.

The prosecutor's sentencing demand is much lighter than the maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a fine of Rp 300 million for the offense.

The defendant was arrested by police in the parking lot of the Soekarno-Hatta airport on March 26. He was apprehended in his Isuzu Panther van with 711 Ecstasy pills in his possession.

Yesterday the court also tried ATS, a Dutch national, who is accused of trying to smuggle 3,900 Ecstasy pills from the Netherlands into Indonesia.

In the trial presided over by Judge Maryani, prosecutor Ishak Aaungadi in his indictment said the unemployed 32-year-old Dutch man obtained the pills from a man named Peter in Amsterdam. He said Peter gave the defendant 15,000 guilders to smuggle the pills into Indonesia.

His smuggling attempt was foiled by Customs and Excise officials who apprehended him at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport on April 9. He was caught with 3,900 Ecstasy pills in his possession which were stashed in 13 socks put in a black bag.

The defendant would have handed over the pills to someone who would have met him at Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta, according to the prosecutor. (28/bas)