Brazilian smuggler stands trial, may face death row
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The Tangerang District Court began on Monday the trial of Brazilian citizen, Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 42, charged with drug smuggling in violation of Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on drugs.
If the defendant is convicted, he will face the death sentence by firing squad like 24 other drug smugglers who are currently on death row.
The trial started a week after the court sentenced a Nigerian citizen to death last week on the same charges.
Prosecutors Edrizal and Eben Silalahi read out the indictment that Moreira, a resident of Rio de Janeiro, had tried to smuggle 13.4 kilograms of cocaine through the Soekarno Hatta International Airport last August.
According to the prosecution, the defendant met with John Miller, who is still at large, at Lalu Restaurant on Jl. Orberoi, Bali, last June. Miller gave him US$10,000 and asked him to fly to Dolphin Bungalow in Cikama, Peru.
Miller told the defendant that a man called Cino, also still at large, would meet him and gave him plastic bags containing cocaine. After concealing the cocaine in his paraglider frame, Moreira then went to Trijillo in Peru by car and flew to Lima by Lam Peru Airlines. The defendant stayed for several days in Koitos in Lima.
He then carried the drugs to Sao Paolo and boarded flight KLM 837 to Jakarta, arriving on Aug. 2, 2003.
Airport security officers, who asked him to put his luggage through the X-ray, became suspicious since one of his seven bags contained strange objects.
Officers opened the bag but the defendant said that it only contained a paraglider frame. They then asked the defendant to show his customs declaration and passport.
"No problem," he replied while walking toward a trolley to get the documents.
At the same time, two Garuda flights had arrived and the incoming passengers crowded the terminal. The defendant then ran off leaving his bags behind.
Officers tried to catch him without success. They later opened his bags and found the paraglider frame filled with 29 black plastic bags containing white powder. A narcotest confirmed that the white powder was cocaine, weighing 13.4 kilograms.
National Police finally found the defendant hiding out in a house belonging to Ahmad Abdullah, a resident of Sumbawa island, West Nusa Tenggara, on Aug. 16.
When the police asked him to show some identification, the defendant said he had thrown them out, but said his name was Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira.
Presiding judge Suprapto with two panel members Maha Nikmah and Benar Sihombing adjourned the hearing until next Monday to hear the defendant's counter statement.