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)