Death sought for Kenyan drug smuggler

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta

Prosecutors have sought the death sentence for a Kenyan man charged with attempting to smuggle more than one kilogram of heroin into the country.

Prosecutor Fajar Rudi told the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday the evidence presented in the case was sufficient to prove defendant Okeke Nelson Sunday Orenge Moa Mwangai guilty of violating Article 87 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics, for smuggling to supply a type 1 controlled drug.

The prosecutor also accused the 29-year-old defendant of possessing a quantity of the drug for personal use.

Fajar said the evidence included 1.129 kilograms of heroin packaged in 67 rubber capsules, which the defendant had ingested.

The capsules were found in a hospital X-ray examination, he said. The Jakarta Police forensic laboratory had confirmed the capsuled contained heroin, he said.

Witness testimonies included those from officers of the Jakarta Police narcotics division, who received a tipoff about the defendant's arrival in January and later arrested him at a hotel in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Several hotel employees present during the arrest also gave testimonies.

Mwangai, who was born in Nigeria, had testified he was promised US$20,000 by a friend, Ikena, in December to transport the heroin from Karachi to Denpasar via Bangkok and finally to Jakarta, where he would then deliver the heroin to Anselem, a Nigerian citizen.

Mwangai said Ikena had instructed him to split the heroin into rubber capsules, which he then swallowed, to elude inspection by customs and excise officials at the airports' checkpoints.

Fajar asked the panel of judges to take into consideration the defendant was a member of an international drug syndicate.

If the drugs had reached the street they could have caused irreparable mental and physical harm to the nation's youth, Fajar said. The prosecution found no mitigating factors in the case, he said

Asked for his response to the sentencing request by presiding judge Agus Subroto, Mwangai apologized. "I'm sorry. I admit my actions and I feel guilty, but I was forced to do (my crime)," he said.

The trial was adjourned until July 21 to hear the defense's plea.