Local drug defendant gets life sentence

Local drug defendant gets life sentence

JAKARTA (JP): A 45-year-old Indonesian man was yesterday
sentenced to life imprisonment by the Central Jakarta District
Court after he was convicted of helping two foreigners to smuggle
29 kilograms of heroin.

"The court has found defendant Fredy A Thing guilty of helping
two foreigners smuggle the drugs and carry them to Hotel
Indonesia, Central Jakarta, on May 11. Therefore the board of
judges has agreed to punish him with life imprisonment," Judge
Tuaradja Siregar said when announcing his verdict.

Freddy, who wore a white long-sleeved shirt and dark blue
trousers looked calm as the judge asked him if he understood the
verdict and told him that he had the right to appeal to a higher
court.

Freddy then told the presiding judge that he would file an
appeal, while prosecutor Hanief said that he accepted the
verdict.

State prosecutor Tengku Zakaria, Hanief's colleague, had asked
Judge Tuaradja, on Jan. 24, to sentence Freddy to life
imprisonment and fine him Rp 10 million (US$4,543) for his
involvement in the drug trafficking.

In his judgment, Judge Tuaradja said the fact that illegal
drug use was hampering the nation's efforts to raise a good young
generation was a factor his decision to grant the prosecutor's
request.

Freddy was captured by police at Hotel Indonesia on May 11,
1994, when his cousin Sae Lim Iaw, a Thai national, and Tham Tuck
Yin alias A Tjai, a Malaysian, were presenting a sample of the
heroin to a potential buyer.

The potential buyer was identified only as A Heng, and turned
out to have been an Interpol officer.

In the previous court session Freddy told the judge that he
was involved in the case because Sae Lim Iaw, alias Boon Tan,
whom until January last year he hadn't met for more than 20
years, had entrusted him with some valuables.

A Tjai was sentenced to death last month for his main role in
the drug trafficking while Boon Tan was given life imprisonment.

"Boon Tan and A Tjai visited me in January and entrusted some
of his belongings to my care," Freddy said, adding that Boon Tan
had promised to pick up the goods, which turned out to be heroin,
three days later.

The heroin was moved to Freddy's house on Jl. Patriot in
Bekasi, east of Jakarta.

Freddy said Boon Tan had 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 learned that the heroin was
owned by a Thai man named Thamanoon Saepho, who had ordered A
Tjai to transport it by boat to Belawan Port in Medan, North
Sumatra, before taking it to Jakarta by bus.

Freddy said he had insisted that Boon Tan and A Tjai remove
the heroin from his house but that they had repeatedly replied,
"Not until we find prospective buyers."

Lawyer Sofyan Taher, representing Freddy, told reporters that
the verdict was too harsh. He said he had asked the judge to view
Freddy as a person who had been forced to commit a crime and not
as a person who helped criminals to commit a crime.

The lawyer said that Article 48 of the Criminal Code Procedure
provided that a person forced to commit a crime cannot be
punished.

The drug raid was the biggest heroin seizure 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)