Dutch ambassador doubts pilot will be extradited
JAKARTA (JP): Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Reitze Brouwer hinted yesterday that Holland may not extradite the Indonesian pilot who was arrested at Schiphol airport late last month for allegedly trying to smuggle 8,000 Ecstasy pills.
"There's no extradition treaty between the Netherlands and Indonesia," Brouwer told a press conference.
Moreover, he said, distributing and possessing Ecstasy pills is a crime in the Netherlands, and the crime happened in The Hague.
Shortly after pilot Mohammad Said was arrested with 8,000 Ecstasy pills inside his vest at Schipol airport on Sept. 29, Indonesian police announced that they would persuade The Hague to extradite the 49-year-old pilot to stand trial here.
"We'll do our best to bring the suspect here to trial even though the crime took place in the Netherlands," the head of the National Police crime investigation directorate, Brig. Gen. Rusdihardjo, told reporters last week.
He said the police were following an existing law which permits an Indonesian court to try a citizen for a crime committed overseas.
Although the countries have no extradition treaty, Rusdihardjo believes that the close relationship between the two countries would support the police's request.
According to National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo, the police want to trace the pilot's local accomplices.
According to Brouwer, he had no idea whether the Indonesian authorities had submitted an official request for the pilot's extradition.
"I think it's also an early status for that because we have to make the outcome of the police investigation first," the ambassador said.
Indonesian officials have complained about the alleged abuse suffered by Garuda Indonesia's senior pilot in custody.
"There's no mistreatment. We have done everything properly according to our procedures in handling this case," Brouwer said.
The ambassador said that Said was injured prior to his arrest.
"He refused any medical treatment we offered until the visit of the embassy personnel. At the jail, he has three meals a day and coffee at any time," Brouwer added.
The Dutch ambassador denied reports that Said was not allowed to meet Indonesian embassy staff, that his lawyers were not allowed to accompany him and that he was beaten by Dutch police.
The embassy staff wanted to meet the suspect the day after he was arrested, which is impossible according to the Netherlands' procedures.
Brouwer also denied reports here that the Dutch authorities had not immediately informed the embassy of the arrest.
Tension between the two countries grew this week when a Dutch press report on Monday said that an employee of the Indonesian embassy in The Hague was involved in an Ecstasy ring.
The influential De Telegraaf reported that Ecstasy pills were smuggled through the embassy's diplomatic pouches, carried by Garuda crew members.
The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking into the report.
When asked to comment on the report, Ambassador Brouwer said yesterday that the newspaper was responsible for the report.
"At this moment, there's no claim or no statements of the police or the government of the Netherlands about any involvement of the Indonesian embassy in this case," the ambassador said.
Brouwer quoted foreign affairs minister Ali Alatas as saying in their recent meeting that "the relations between the two countries is excellent and he (Alatas) had all confidence that we'll manage and solve this case together."
Meanwhile, Dutch embassy staff here were surprised by a bomb hoax yesterday. All the people at the embassy building on Jl. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta, were evacuated after an unidentified caller informed the receptionist at around 8:30 a.m. yesterday that a bomb would explode in the building within 90 minutes.
Brouwer said he hoped there was no connection between the bomb threat and the Ecstasy case. (bsr)