Dutchman gets three years for drug trafficking

Dutchman gets three years for drug trafficking

JAKARTA (JP): Dutchmen Christian van den Bosch was sentenced
by the Central Jakarta district court on Saturday to three years
imprisonment for drug trafficking.

Christian is also obliged by the court to pay a court fee of
Rp 5 million (US$ 2,300).

Christian, who sat calmly at his seat throughout the session,
listened attentively when presiding Judge Djamil Sularso passed
the guilty verdict and immediately said that he would appeal
after interpreter Meity Joseph informed him of the verdict.

The three year sentence given by the court is much lighter
than the six years demanded by state Prosecutor Suriansjah. Based
on article 81 of the health laws the maximum sentence for the
crime is seven years plus a fine of up to Rp 140 million.

"You have been found guilty under the new health law, not the
old health ordonantie," Judge Sularso said referring to the Dutch
oriented Stbld. 419/1949 law which the prosecutor also claimed to
have been violated by Christian.

The Stbld. 419/1949 makes the supply of dangerous drugs
without proper licensing illegal.

Christian was arrested on Feb. 6 at the Borobudur
Intercontinental hotel lobby coffee shop after he and three
accomplices were caught trying to sell 167 "Eva" pills containing
the illegal substance derivat amphetamine.

Two of his alleged accomplices, Steven J. Bryner and Peter
Karajin, were security guards at the American Embassy here in
Jakarta and are to be tried in the same case in United States
territory.

The third, a Dutch citizen of Ambonese descent by the name of
Leonard Jacobus alias Levi, is being tried separately at the
Central Jakarta district court.

According to police investigation, Christian met a woman named
Nova last year at Tanah Mur discotheque, Central Jakarta, who
agreed to purchase several thousand Eva pills at a price of Rp
80,000 each.

Return

A few months later Christian returned to the Netherlands and
sent a package containing the pills to the address of Bryner at
Jl. Cikatomas I No. 31, South Jakarta.

Upon his return to Indonesia in January, Christian was soon
contacted by Nova's cohort who asked that the transaction be made
at the Borobudur Intercontinental hotel, Central Jakarta.

It was Levi who was allegedly caught about to perform a drug
transaction with an Indonesian by the name of Irsan while in
possession of 163 Eva pills inside the hotel's toilet.

Upon their arrest at the hotel, police then began a search of
the house at Jl. Cikatomas I where the four foreigners were
dwelling together and found 7,500 Eva pills hidden in a cabinet.

During the trial both Bryner and Christian were accusing each
other of owning the pills.

Judge Sularso, in announcing the sentence, pointed to the fact
that though Christian was not in possession of any drugs at the
time of arrest, various testimony points to there being collusion
between them to carry out the transaction.

"There doesn't need to be physical evidence of prior
discussion or arrangement to give proof of a conspiracy," he
said.(mds)