Drug defendants trade accusations in court

Drug defendants trade accusations in court

JAKARTA (JP): Two defendants exchanged accusations with each
other yesterday in the heroin trafficking case being tried at the
Central Jakarta District Court.

The two defendants are Freddy A Thing, a resident of Bekasi,
and Sae Lim Iaw, also known as Boon Tan, a Thai national, who
took the witness stand to testify against his alleged accomplice
in yesterday's trial session.

Freddy, Boon Tan and Tham Tuck Yin, alias A Tjai, an alleged
Malaysian drug trafficker, were captured by police in Hotel
Indonesia on May 11 last year as they were showing part of a
total of a 29 kilograms of heroin to a potential buyer.

Merdeka daily reported that the buyer turned out to be an
undercover Interpol officer.

As a witness in the trial of his alleged accomplice, Boon Tan
said that he saw Freddy carrying a bag into Hotel Indonesia,
Central Jakarta. He said he later learned that the bag contained
six packs of high grade heroin.

Boon Tan told the judge that he knew nothing about the heroin
deal because he was asked by another Thai named Thamanoon Saepho
to come to Indonesia to assist one of his men, A Tjai, who could
not speak the "Hokkian" language.

Thamanoon, who remains at large, is believed to be the owner
of the heroin.

"I knew there would be a transaction of some kind of
merchandise, but I never realized that it was heroin until the
police raided the room," Boon Tan said.

Freddy said Boon Tan was lying.

"I reject his statement Your Honor. I know for a fact that he
(Boon Tan) was involved since his earlier visit to Indonesia,"
said Freddy, who insisted that Boon Tan's involvement was more
than just as a translator for A Tjai.

Freddy said that Boon Tan's earlier visit to Medan, North
Sumatra, was aimed at arranging the drug business with Thamanoon.

"Your Honor, I can say that without Boon Tan's presence there
would be no heroin deal," Freddy told Judge Tuaraja Siregar.

During yesterday's session, Boon Tan was accompanied by one of
his lawyers, Joenoes Japhar, a lawyer from the Sjofril Manan law
office who also acted as his translator.

Death penalty

Several weeks ago in a trial session led by Judge R.P.A.
Mangkoediningrat, prosecutor Meity Yosef requested that Boon Tan
be sentenced to death. The same request has been asked by
prosecutor R.A. Argasasmita for A Tjai.

A Tjai said in the previous trial session that Thamanoon
ordered him to carry the heroin to Medan from Bangkok and then to
transport it by bus to Jakarta. He later put the heroin at the
house of a friend, Freddy A Thing, on Jl. Patriot in Bekasi.

The heroin was kept there until May 11, 1994, when A Tjai,
Freddy and Boon Tan carried six packages of it to Hotel Indonesia
to show it to a man who identified himself as A Hong.

An additional 54 packages of heroin were subsequently
discovered at Freddy's house. There was a total of 29 kilograms
of heroin separated into 60 packages.

The drug raid took the biggest heroin haul in Indonesian
history. The second largest drug bust was recorded seven years
earlier in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, when the police seized
17.7 kilograms of heroin of a similar grade.

Judge Tuaraja adjourned Freddy's trial until today when Judge
Leo Hutagalung is expected to announce his verdict for A Tjai.
(mas)