Bar manager jailed for gun possession

TANGERANG: The Tangerang District Court sentenced on Wednesday a discotheque manager to eight-months imprisonment for illegal possession of firearms. The verdict was two months lower than the prosecution's demand.

Presiding judge Asmin Simanjuntak said defendant Ali Basuki Lumbun, a 62-year-old resident of Lenteng Agung subdistrict, South Jakarta, was guilty of possessing the firearms although he did not use them.

The charge carries a maximum punishment of death.

Ali was arrested on the Jakarta to Merak toll road by patrolling police officers who became suspicious when the saw the defendant's Daihatsu jeep being driven erratically on March 7.

The police found the defendant drunk and as they searched the car they found two pistols and a rifle along with 111 bullets.

The defendant said he accepted the court's verdict.

"I thank God (for the verdict). If the police did not stop me, I would have been killed by a container truck because I was heavily drunk at that time," he said. -- JP