Dutch ecstasy factory owner gets death
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The Tangerang District Court sentenced on Monday a Dutch citizen to death for operating two ecstasy factories -- believed to be among the largest in the world with capacity to produce thousands of ecstasy pills per hour -- and trafficking the illegal substance.
Presiding Judge M. Hatta Ali declared defendant Ang Kiem Sioe who had several aliases, Ance Tahir, Tommy Wijaya and Kim Ho, 50, guilty of production and distribution between September 1999 and March 2002.
"The defendant is guilty of committing the crime ... and must be sentenced to death," Judge Ali told the packed courthouse, which was full of reporters and anti-narcotics supporters who cheered the verdict.
Ang appeared shocked upon hearing the verdict, but he did not say a word. His lawyer immediately said his client would appeal the verdict.
Ang was captured in April last year after police raided his two ecstasy factories in Tangerang, a few kilometers outside of Jakarta.
Police also confiscated at least 8,000 ecstasy pills and thousands of U.S. dollars from the buildings.
Tangerang District Court is known to be very unsympathetic with drug abusers and dealers, and has sentenced 20 defendants to death in recent years. The defendants are mostly international drug traffickers, as Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is actually located within Tangerang.
The panel of judges -- presided over by court chief M. Hatta Ali and including two other members, Wahyu Setianingsih and Gatot Supramono who alternately read out the verdict -- said there were no mitigating factors at all that would allow leniency for the defendant.
The judges cited several factors that led to the death penalty, including the impacts of Ang's crime which had caused rampant drug abuse and was destroying the nation's young generation. They also said that he repeatedly lied in his statements to police investigators.
Ang Kiem Soei, a resident of Utretcht, the Netherlands, was born in Fak Fak, Papua, and is of Chinese-Indonesian descent. Earlier, he had denied all crimes related to drug production and distribution, saying that he frequently visited the country in his capacity as a timber importer.
Earlier, prosecutor P. Berliana also demanded the death sentence for the defendant, who was charged with producing and distributing illicit drugs and violating Article 59 of Law No.5/1997 on psychotropic substances. He was also found guilty of running an organized crime ring, which violates Article 55 of the Criminal Code.
The Law on Psychotropic substances carries a maximum punishment of death.
According to Berliana, Ang had ordered some of the chemicals necessary for making ecstasy from a man named Leo Chandra, while other substances were imported from China.
The defendant first produced ecstasy pills at Jl. KH Hasyim Ashari 29 in Cipondoh district. In September 2001, he rented another house at Jl. Imam Bonjol 79A in Karawaci.
The defendant was arrested on April 6, 2002 at Hotel Borobudur in Central Jakarta following a tip from one of his accomplices, Tommy Bocor alias Tommy Palembang, who marketed the drugs internationally, including the in United States and China. Tommy Bocor and Leo Chandra were shot dead while attempting to escape police custody after leading police to the defendant's whereabouts.
Other accomplices identified as Karim, Frans, Beth, Sulaiman and Husni who helped distribute the ecstasy are still at large.
During a raid in the hotel, the police seized a total of about Rp 2 billion in various currencies, including US$200,000, S$4,200, HK$5,670, Chinese Reminbi totaling 10,500 and Rp 200 million, as well as 8,400 ecstasy pills.
Outside the packed courtroom, thousands of activists from several non-governmental organizations and students continuously delivered speeches urging the court to hand down the maximum punishment, while 350 police officers were deployed to secure the trial.
Those from the People Against Drugs (Geram) group put on a performance of the barongsai, Chinese lion dance, while Anti- Narcotics National Movement (Granat) activists performed various traditional dances.
On Wednesday, the court will begin hearing the cases of three Africans who were found in possession of 4.5 kilograms of heroin in Villa Melati Mas housing estate in Serpong last August.