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)