Death demanded for alleged cocaine smuggler
Death demanded for alleged cocaine smuggler
TANGERANG (JP): A prosecutor demanded the Tangerang District
Court on Thursday sentence defendant Merika Franola, alias Ola,
aged 30, to death and fine her Rp 1 billion (US$112,400) for
allegedly attempting to smuggle cocaine and heroin out of
Indonesia.
"The defendant has violated the 1997 Narcotics Law, for
delivering 3.5 kilograms of cocaine to two other defendants for
export; and for possession of 3.5 kilograms of heroin at her
residence," Prosecutor Mursidi told the hearing presided over by
judge Asep Iwan Irawan.
Paragraph 1a of Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics
trade and distribution carries the death sentence and a fine of
Rp 1 billion.
"The inexcusable action of the defendant was that she, on
several occasions, ordered two other defendants, alleged drug
couriers, Deni Setya Maharwan and Ranni Andriani, to bring
narcotics from Thailand and Pakistan into Indonesia," Mursidi
said.
Although Mursidi said the confiscated evidence was 3.5
kilograms of cocaine and 3.5 kilograms of heroin, it was reported
earlier that city police detectives had seized six kilograms of
cocaine and US$3,000 in cash from courier and defendant Ranni
Andriani, and five kilograms of cocaine and $3,000 in cash from
courier and defendant Deni Setya Maharwan at the Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport on Jan. 12 of this year.
Both couriers were about to board a London-bound flight via
Hong Kong at the time of their arrest.
Police also apprehended five other people at the airport who
were suspected of being couriers for the same syndicate.
One of the five other suspects, later identified as defendant
Merika Franola was found with 1.6 kilograms of heroin and four
kilograms of cocaine.
She was identified as the coordinator of the local couriers.
The arrests led police detectives to the home of five African
nationals in Cipete, South Jakarta, on Jan. 12.
The five men, who allegedly headed the local drug trafficking
operation, were shot and killed by police in a gunfight.
The men were identified as Semeiu Jhola Oladi Pupo and
Muueeden Boca Rinwa of Nigeria; Freeman Charles Siafa of Liberia;
Ebraheem Mohammed of Togo; and Mouza Sulaiman Domala of the Ivory
Coast.
Ola, who was married to Mouza, said that she became a drug
courier last year to help her husband.
She said she received handsome payment for coordinating the
collection and delivery of drugs by the six local couriers.
"Mouza told me in late 1998 that my duty was to help him," Ola
said at the Jakarta Police Headquarters in January.
She said she believed Mouza was a footwear and garment trader
when she married him in February 1998.
"After I gave birth to our baby in August 1998, he used to
beat me badly because he was frustrated with his job. I never
dared ask him outright what he did. Somehow, though, I had an
inkling.
"Later I found out that a friend of mine who was somehow
involved with Mouza in the drug business had died mysteriously.
Then I got really scared."
She said the lucrative offers to help Mouza eventually became
too tempting to refuse.
One job was to peer through the airport windows to verify if
the couriers successfully passed through immigration. She also
took trips to countries such as Argentina and Brazil to confirm
the safety of routes for the couriers.
Ola insisted that there was no collusion with Indonesian
officials and "I never bribed any airport officials". (41/ylt)