Deckhand Fandi Ramadhan of Sea Dragon sentenced to five years' imprisonment in 2-tonne meth case

Deckhand Fandi Ramadhan of the Sea Dragon was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in a drug-smuggling case involving nearly 2 tonnes of methamphetamine.

The judge found Fandi Ramadhan proven beyond reasonable doubt guilty of conspiring to commit unlawful acts and acting as an intermediary in the sale and purchase of narcotics of Group I not derived from plants weighing more than 5 grams, as charged in the indictment.

‘The sentence for the defendant Fandi is therefore five years’ imprisonment,’ the judge said when reading the ruling at Batam District Court, on Thursday (5/3).

The judge said the charges demanding the death penalty were not proven in the court’s facts. In his ruling, the judge stated that the sentence imposed on Fandi was just and in line with the offence committed.

The judge noted aggravating circumstances: the nearly 2 tonnes of drugs could damage the future of the nation’s youth if circulated in Indonesia. The defendant did not support government programmes to combat illicit drug trafficking.

As for mitigating circumstances, the defendant was polite during the trial, has no prior convictions, and is still young, and thus there is a prospect for rehabilitation.

The verdict is lighter than the prosecutors’ demands. Previously, prosecutors sought the death penalty for Fandi Ramadhan in the case.

The prosecutor believed Fandi was proven beyond reasonable doubt to have committed the criminal offence of conspiring to commit unlawful acts involving offering for sale, selling, buying, being an intermediary in a sale, exchanging or delivering narcotics of Group I not plant-based weighing more than 5 grams. Violating Section 114(2) in conjunction with Section 132(1) of Indonesia’s Narcotics Act No. 35 of 2009.

‘The defendant Fandi Ramadhan is sentenced to death, with orders that the defendant remain in state detention,’ the prosecutor’s demand stated.

In this case, Fandi was accused of jointly having attempted or conspired to commit unlawful acts without right or against the law to offer for sale, sell, buy, receive, be an intermediary in the sale and purchase, exchange, or deliver narcotics of Group I in non-plant form weighing more than 5 grams. He was also jointly charged with having, storing, controlling, or providing narcotics of Group I non-plant form weighing more than 5 grams.