Dutch national faces 12 years in prison
Dutch national faces 12 years in prison
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Prosecutors at the Tangerang District Court have requested a 12-
year jail term for Dutch national on Tuesday for smuggling more
than 34,000 tablets of ecstasy pills into the country in April.
They also told the court Max should be fined Rp 250 million
(US$15,600).
"The defendant has been charged with violating Article 59 of
Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic drugs, which carries a maximum
penalty of death," prosecutor Faisal Adi said during the trial on
Tuesday.
Aijal Marcus, alias Max, an Indonesian-born Dutchman, was
arrested on April 20 in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta.
The 44-year-old defendant, who speaks Ambonese fluently, had
reportedly stored the pills inside a 4.5 kilogram cardboard
package using a DHL forwarding service. He declared the box,
which he sent before taking a flight for Jakarta, contained
documents.
Suspecting customs and excise officers opened the package and
found six plastic bags containing 29,970 ecstasy pills in total.
A lab test later confirmed the pills contained psychotropic
substances and amphetamine.
Written as the sender on the package was 'GE Plastic-
Plasticlaan 1 Bergen op Zoom Amsterdam,' while the recipient's
address was 'RMJ Portier Audio, Jl. Krekot No. 3C Pasar Baru,
Central Jakarta.
In cooperation with airport police, customs officers first
arrested a man, Ronaldo, at the recipient's address, who notified
police about Max, the owner of the package.
Ronaldo was later freed by police after the investigators
determined he had known nothing about the delivery.
Airport customs and excise officers foiled the second
delivery attempt of another 4,840 pills on April 22 from
the same sender in Amsterdam to the same address in
Jakarta.
Max, who worked as a taxi driver in Amsterdam, had told
police that Indonesia was a good market for drugs and that
each pill would be sold here for Rp 100,000 (US$9.70).
He bought the pills from a man called Gerald at Twin Peaks
Cafi in Amsterdam and expected to earn Rp 3.5 billion
from selling them.
Presiding judge Gatot Supramono adjourned the hearing until
next Tuesday to hear Max's defense statement.