Isrok's name comes up in drug hearing

JAKARTA (JP): In an unprecedented move, the sole defendant in a drug case, Donny Hendrian, publicly mentioned the original name of an accomplice who was arrested along with him in a drug bust in August last year.

Donny told a hearing at the West Jakarta District Court that the accomplice's real name was Second. Lt. Agus Isrok, a member of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus).

"There is no such person as Deky Setiawan. His real name is Agus Isrok," Donny told the hearing, presided over by judge Hadi Lelana.

Second. Lt. Saleh Pattimura, a police detective at the West Jakarta Police precinct who conducted the arrest, also confirmed that Donny's accomplice was Agus Isrok.

Media reports said Agus was the son of former Army chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo. Agus's arrest became headline news last August.

The police report and also the prosecutors' indictment, however, did not mention the name of Agus Isrok, but that of Deky Setiawan.

The police report said Donny was arrested along with Deky Setiawan on Aug. 8 last year at Hotel Travel on Jl. Mangga Besar in West Jakarta.

Scores of police personnel, led by then chief of the West Jakarta Police Lt. Col. Adjie Rustam Ramdja, raided room 408 of the hotel and arrested the two young men.

The police seized items from the room, including 3.7 kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), 6,218 ecstasy pills, 27.9 grams of heroin and 25 sachets of Valium pills.

Donny denied any knowledge of the drugs, saying they were in the room when he arrived. "The bag was on the bed (after the police entered the room)," he said.

He also denied he was the owner of the shabu-shabu. The police had said in their report that they found a small plastic package of shabu-shabu in his wallet.

"The wallet only contained a certain amount of money and some letters," he said.

The fifth hearing of the case presented two witnesses, Tjekki Soemargo and Second. Lt. Saleh Pattimura, who were present with their lawyers, Johanes Wiratno and Togar Sijabat.

Saleh, who frisked Donny during the arrest, initially denied knowledge of Deky, saying he did not know the name.

"All of them refused to reveal their names during the arrest," he said.

But, Wiratno took out an Aug. 22 edition of Tempo magazine, entitled Son of the KSAD involved in narcotic networks?, and showed some photographs of Agus Isrok in the magazine to Saleh.

Saleh later confirmed that the man in the photos was Deky.

"I knew his name from the police report," he said.

Saleh said he and 20 police personnel found a big black bag containing heroin, ecstasy and shabu-shabu in the room's wardrobe.

"We entered the room at 3 a.m. and found aluminum foil, matches, a bong and a certain amount of white powder on a desk in the room," he said, adding that the two people were in the room.

Tjekki, suspected of being a drug dealer in the case, denied he had known Donny before the arrest.

"We first met at the police station after the arrest on Aug. 8," he said. Tjekki is being tried in a separate hearing.

Judge Hadi Lelana adjourned the hearing until next week to hear other witnesses' testimonies.

Prosecutor Ferry said recently he would summon Agus to testify before the hearing. Due to his military status, Agus is being questioned at military police headquarters. (asa)