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 When the needle was withdrawn, it was found to have a white powder adhering to it that officers suspected was heroin.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.