Ecstasy pilot a repeat offender, police chief says

JAKARTA (JP): National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said yesterday the Garuda Indonesia pilot arrested in Amsterdam Sunday with 8,000 Ecstasy pills is a repeat offender.

The Indonesian authorities have no evidence so far that the 49-year-old pilot, Mohammad Said, is a member of a drug trafficking syndicate, Dibyo said.

An initial investigation has led to the allegation that Said was attempting to smuggle the stimulant tablets based on someone's orders, Dibyo told reporters after a ceremony attended by 70 newly promoted Army officers at Armed Forces headquarters.

"Without the order, it's impossible MS (the suspect) would smuggle Ecstasy pills into Jakarta. It's also impossible that he bought thousands of Ecstasy pills on his own," he said.

The suspect is a senior pilot with around 20,000 flying hours and has served the company for 25 years.

He was arrested at the Amsterdam airport of Schiphol for allegedly attempting to conceal the pills in a gurita, a maternity garment that covers the chest and abdomen, shortly before he flew a Garuda B-747 airplane to Medan and Denpasar in Indonesia via Paris.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said the pilot would be fired if he was proven guilty by the court. He has ordered Garuda to provide legal assistance for the suspect.

The incident has prompted the government to tighten the supervision of airlines crews, including pilots, to prevent them from taking advantage of their privileges. The minister suggested that all flight crew members who arrived from other countries should be x-rayed.

Also yesterday, Attorney General Singgih said he hoped the Dutch authorities would allow the pilot to be tried in Indonesia.

Although Indonesia and the Netherlands have no extradition treaty, the pilot can be extradited to Indonesian based on reciprocal reasons, he said.

Singgih said under the Dutch law, anyone charged with drug dealing is subject to a punishment which is lighter than that which may be meted out by an Indonesian court.

According to Article 5 of the Indonesian Criminal Code, any citizen who committed crimes overseas can be tried in the country where the crime took place or in Indonesia, he said.

Singgih, who talked to reporters before attending a cabinet meeting, also said he would check on reports that the Dutch authorities mistreated the suspect.

Antara reported that Indonesian embassy officials in The Hague planned to lodge complaints with the Dutch foreign affairs ministry for the alleged mistreatment.

"We have received reports that the suspect has been mistreated, such as not being allowed to contact anyone, including the Garuda office and the Indonesian embassy," Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands J.B. Soedarmanto Kadarisman was quoted by Antara as saying.

The envoy said the embassy failed to obtain information about the arrest after receiving the report from Garuda on Sunday. "We're very disappointed because the Dutch authorities didn't provide information about the arrest and we knew about the arrest from press reports on Monday," Kadarisman said.

He said the Dutch authorities allowed embassy staff to meet with Said only on Tuesday.

Kadarisman said Said tearfully told embassy officials of the treatment he received during his detention.

The suspect complained that the left side of his chest had become swollen after being pushed by the police while he was handcuffed. As of Tuesday, the suspect, who was placed in a small room, did not receive any medical treatment, Antara reported.

The police allowed the suspect to be represented by a lawyer who was appointed by Garuda instead of one appointed by the Dutch authorities.

The police also confiscated the video cassette the embassy staff used to record the meeting, Kadarisman said. (ste/imn)