Foreigner faces possible death sentence for drug smuggling

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

A Pakistani is facing a possible death sentence for allegedly smuggling 1,050 grams of heroin from Pakistan into the country in June.

Prosecutor Ferry Silalahi on Tuesday asked Tangerang District Court to sentence Mohammad Abdul Hafeez, 32, to death as he had been proven guilty of illegally taking the drugs from Karachi to Jakarta on June 26.

"The death sentence should be imposed on him as there were no mitigating factors to forgive him," Ferry told the court.

Ferry said that the action taken by the defendant, a garment businessman, might not only create a negative image that most people in Indonesia were drug users, but it could have ruined future generations of Indonesians. He also added that the defendant had given an inconsistent testimony during the trial.

Clad in a white sports shirt, dark jeans and slippers, the defendant just bowed his head as the prosecutor read out his demands, which ran to 15 pages.

"I accept the prosecutor's charges and demands because I realize that I am guilty. It is up to the panel of judges to decide whether they will impose the death sentence or a life sentence for me. But I have a wife and a 16-month old baby. Who will feed them if I am dead?" he told The Jakarta Post.

Hafeez was arrested minutes after he arrived on Pakistan Airlines flight PIA 896 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on June 26 this year.

According to Ferry, customs and excise officer Donny Dumpang Harahap was suspicious of the defendant as he only carried a travel bag, despite such a long distance flight.

Donny then told another officer Yudi Darma Nauli to search the defendant's bag and they found three packets wrapped neatly under a jacket.

"When asked by the officers, the defendant said the packet contained special food from Pakistan. To convince the officers, the defendant then opened one of the packets containing popcorn- like pieces and immediately ate two of them," the prosecutor said.

Since the defendant looked nervous when answering questions, the officers then took him into a special room for further questioning and examined the packets. It turned out that the food contained heroin.

Hafeez later confessed that he bought the heroin from a man called Amin Khan in Pshawar city for US$1,000.

Presiding judge M. Soleh Mokoginta adjourned the session for a week when the defendant's lawyer Husein Tuhuteru is scheduled to read out the defense.