Judge asked not to sentence drug dealer to life
Judge asked not to sentence drug dealer to life
JAKARTA (JP): Lawyer Sofyan Taher, representing an alleged local drug dealer, Freddy A Thing, yesterday asked Judge Tuaradja Siregar of the Central Jakarta District Court not to sentence his client to life imprisonment.
"Your Honor, my client is only a victim of an international drug syndicate," said the lawyer.
State prosecutor Tengku Zakaria had, on Jan. 24, asked the judge to sentence Freddy to life imprisonment for his alleged involvement in trafficking 29 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia.
Freddy was captured by police at Hotel Indonesia, Central Jakarta, on May 11, as he and two accomplices, his Thai cousin, Sae Lim Iaw, and, a Malaysian, Tham Tuck Yin alias A Tjai, were showing six sample packets of heroin to a potential buyer.
In the previous court session Freddy had told the judge that he was involved in the case because Sae Lim Iaw, alias Boon Tan, who until January last year he hadn't met for more than 20 years, entrusted him with some valuables.
"Boon Tan and A Tjai visited me in January and entrusted me to take care of Boon Tan's belongings, which they described only as white and fine," Freddy said, adding that Boon Tan promised to pick up the goods, which turned out to be heroin, after three days.
The heroin was stored at Freddy's house on Jl. Patriot in Bekasi.
Freddy said Boon Tan promised him Rp 100 million if the heroin was sold, and threatened to kill his family if he reported the heroin to the police.
According to Freddy, he later learnt that the heroin was owned by a Thai man named Thamanoon Saepho, who had ordered A Tjai to transport it by a small boat to the Belawan Port, Medan in North Sumatra before bringing it by bus to Jakarta.
Freddy said he insisted that Boon Tan and A Tjai remove the heroin from his house but they repeatedly replied, "Not until we find prospective buyers."
Prosecutor Rochayatun Argasasmita requested in December the judge sentence A Tjai to death. The request was granted on Jan. 17. Prosecutor Meity Joseph requested the judge hand down Tan the same sentence. Tan was sentenced to life imprisonment instead.
In yesterday's session Freddy's lawyer, Sofyan Taher, asked the judge to consider Freddy as a person who had committed a crime because he was forced to do so and not as a person who helped criminals in a crime.
"According to Article 48 of Criminal Code, a person who was forced to commit a crime cannot be punished," he said.
The lawyer also asked the judge to consider Freddy's sincerity in giving the police the information that there were still an additional 54 packs in his house on Jl. Patriot, Bekasi.
"Without Freddy's confession, there would be no case," he said.
The drug raid was the biggest heroin bust in Indonesian history. The second largest drug haul was recorded seven years ago in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, when the police captured a Thai national with 17.7 kilograms of heroin.(mas)