Ex-migrant worker on trial for drug smuggling

Ex-migrant worker on trial for drug smuggling

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

The Tangerang District court began the trial on Thursday of
a former Indonesian migrant worker (TKW) for the
attempted smuggling of one kilogram of heroin from Kathmandu,
Nepal, into the country last October.

Prosecutor Puji Raharjo, who read out the 5-page indictment,
said the defendant, Merry Utami, 27, a resident of Jl.
Veteran II, Noto Kusuma village, Sukoharjo, Central Java, arrived
on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ 166 at Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport from Kathmandu on Oct. 31, 2001.

"Customs and excise officers were suspicious because the
defendant looked nervous and confused as she was passing through
the customs and excise checkpoint," the prosecutor told the
hearing.

Seeing the defendant was nervous, customs officers then
took her to a special room for further examination, but officers
found nothing upon searching her.

But then the customs officers became suspicious about the
unusual thickness of her handbag and inserted a needle into the
side of the bag. When the needle was withdrawn, it was found to
have a white powder adhering to it that officers suspected was
heroin.

Customs and excises officers then examined the white powder
using narchotest, a special device for testing for drugs. The
test results confirmed that the white powder was pure heroin. The
total weight of the heroin was one kilogram and nine grams.

Puji said that as the defendant was being examined by customs
officers, she was contacted on her cellular phone and asked to
bring the heroin to the Acasia Hotel in Central Jakarta.

Customs officers along with a number of police officers then
accompanied the defendant to the hotel. But the person who
contacted the defendant was nowhere to be found.

The unidentified man contacted the defendant again and asked
her to go to Mega Matra Hotel in Matraman, East Jakarta.

Realizing, however, that the defendant was accompanied by the
police, the man failed to appear, so that officers finally handed
the defendant over to the police.

During further questioning at National Police Headquarters,
the defendant claimed that she had obtained the heroin from her
Nepalese boyfriend Jerry, with whom she had become acquainted
last July.

The prosecutor charged the defendant with violating Article
82 of Law No. 22/1997 on drugs, which carries the death penalty.

Presiding Judge Ade Komarudin adjourned the hearing until
next Thursday when the defendant's lawyer will read out the
defense statement.

A similar modus operandi was also used by another Indonesian
woman, Edith Yunita Sianturi, 24, a resident of Jl. Wijaya Kusuma
IX, Depok, West Java. Edith was apprehended while attempting to
smuggle one kilogram of heroin from Bangkok into the country in
June, 2001. She was sentenced to death last December by the same
court.

Another defendant being tried on drugs charges by the
same court is Nonthanam M. Saichon, 21, a Thai woman who smuggled
850 grams of heroin from Bangkok last August. Nonthanam, who
carried the drugs in six plastic packages concealed in her
panties and bra, is now awaiting for the prosecution to present
its sentencing demands.