Malaysian national sentenced to death for drug trafficking
Malaysian national sentenced to death for drug trafficking
JAKARTA (JP): Judge Leo Hutagalung of the Central Jakarta
District Court yesterday sentenced Malaysian Tham Tuck Yin, alias
A Tjai, to death for drug trafficking.
"The court has found defendant A Tjai guilty of illegally
importing 29 kilograms of heroin from Thailand to Indonesia and
for trying to sell it in Jakarta," the judge said. "Therefore the
board of judges has agreed to punish him with the death sentence.
A Tjai, 30, 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.
A Tjai then told the judge that he would file an appeal.
Prosecutor Rochayatun Argasasmita had requested the death
penalty and a Rp 50 million (US$22,716) fine.
A Tjai was caught by the police in Hotel Indonesia, Central
Jakarta, on May 11 as he and two accomplices, Sae Lim Iaw, alias
Boon Tan, a Thai national, and Freddy A Thing, a local, were
exhibiting a sample of the 29 kilograms of heroin to a potential
buyer.
A Tjai said in the previous trial session that he was ordered
by another Thai named Thamanoon Saepho to carry the heroin from
Thailand to Medan and then to transport it by bus to Jakarta. He
later hid the heroin at the house of a friend, Freddy A Thing, on
Jl. Patriot in Bekasi.
The heroin was stashed there until May 11, 1994, when A Tjai,
Freddy and Boon Tan picked up six packages, which were then
transported to Hotel Indonesia and shown to a potential buyer who
identified himself as A Heng.
A Heng, as reported in the Merdeka daily recently, was an
undercover Interpol officer.
An additional 54 packages of heroin were subsequently
discovered at Freddy's house, containing a total of 29 kilograms
of heroin.
A number of foreigners were given death penalty last year for
trafficking heroin in Indonesia.
In June, West Jakarta District Court sentenced 39-year-old
Chan Tin Chong of Malaysia to death for attempting to smuggle 429
grams of heroin into Indonesia.
In Medan last September, the North Sumatra District Court also
sentenced two Thai nationals, Sealow Prasert, 55, Namsong
Sirilak, 22 and an Indian Ayodya Prasat Chawbey, 53, to death
after they were found guilty of smuggling 12.19 kilograms of
heroin. (mas)