French National Sentenced to 20 Months in Prison for Methamphetamine Possession

The Mataram District Court has sentenced French national Ludovic Roche, also known as Ali, to 20 months in prison for the possession of 0.27 grams of methamphetamine. Judge Kelik Trimargo delivered the verdict during an online hearing on Wednesday. “Adjudicating, the court sentences the defendant Ludovic Roche alias Ali to imprisonment for one year and eight months,” the judge stated. The panel of judges also imposed a fine of Rp500 million, with the provision that failure to pay would result in an additional 140 days of confinement. The judge declared the defendant guilty of possessing narcotics, in accordance with the second charge presented by the public prosecutor, which violated Article 609 paragraph (1) letter a in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code, in conjunction with Law Number 1 of 2026 concerning Criminal Adjustments. The public prosecutor had previously sought a three-year prison sentence without a fine. According to the indictment, the defendant was found in possession of a 0.27-gram packet of methamphetamine. The evidence was discovered when Ludovic Roche was arrested alongside a local resident with the initials MUB, a fisherman from Bayan District, North Lombok Regency. Both were apprehended by the North Lombok Police Narcotics Unit while riding a motorcycle in the Bayan area. The packet of methamphetamine was found tucked inside a mobile phone case stored in the vehicle’s compartment. Despite being arrested with the drug evidence, a urine test showed that Ludovic Roche tested negative for methamphetamine.