Brazilian gets death for drugs
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang
The Tangerang District Court sentenced on Tuesday Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira of Brazil to death for smuggling 13.6 kilograms of cocaine into the country from Peru last August through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Moreira is the 27th drug smuggler sentenced by the court to death by firing squad since January 2000, although no death row inmate has been executed pending appeals. Of the 27 convicts, 22 are foreign nationals, mostly of African nations, while five are Indonesians.
Presiding judge Suprapto read out the verdict finding the defendant guilty of violating Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics, which carries a maximum punishment of death.
Prosecutor Hasran Harahap had requested the death sentence, as well as a Rp 300 million (US$32,397) fine.
"It is the maximum sentence, so we will not consider the prosecutor's demand for a fine," said Suprapto.
"The defendant has acted against the government's anti-drug campaign, threatened the nation's young generation and cast a negative light upon Indonesia as a drug consumer," he added.
The 42-year-old Moreira, clad in a dark brown, long-sleeved shirt and black pants, bowed his head as the verdict was read.
Defense lawyer Mona Martina Riang Lubuk said her client, who is a professional paraglider, would appeal.
Moreira arrived at the airport on Aug. 2, 2003 from Peru. Customs and security officers, who became suspicious because of Moreira's nervous behavior, had asked him for identity documents when Moreira bolted, leaving behind his luggage, including the paraglider.
The officers searched his belongings and discovered the cocaine concealed inside the paraglider's steel frame.
Moreira was caught on Lombok, where he was hiding, on Aug. 18.
The Brazilian, who claimed to be a pilot, testified that he had been asked by a John Miller to smuggle the drugs. Miller is at large, and his whereabouts unknown.
Moreira also said he owed $80,000 to Singapore General Hospital, where he had received treatment for 18 months in 1997 to recover from an airplane accident that left him paralyzed.