Mother of three jailed for producing drugs

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced a mother of three on Tuesday to eight years in jail for producing ecstasy pills in the woman's second drug-related conviction in less than 18 months.

Presiding judge Musa Simatupang told the court that Maya Tulenan, 37, was "guilty of violating Article 60 of the 1997 Law on Psychotropic Substances".

After the trial closed, Maya collapsed as she was being led from the courtroom.

Many observers believed she staged the fall. After receiving first-aid treatment, she was able to answer reporters' questions.

The sentence was two years higher than the demand of prosecutor Amri Sata in previous trial sessions, but far below the maximum sentence of 15 years stipulated under the law.

Musa said there were no mitigating factors to lessen the sentence.

"Moreover, the defendant did not show any remorse for her crime during the trial."

Sessions were marked by heated debates between Maya, the prosecutor and the panel of judges in which the defendant denied the charges.

The judges argued the relatively harsh sentence was fitting because Maya was a repeat offender.

She was jailed for seven months last year for producing shabu- shabu (crystal methamphetamine).

Outside the court, Maya confirmed she was jailed at Pondok Bambu Women's Penitentiary in East Jakarta from July 1998 to February this year.

Musa said Maya was arrested by city police detectives last May in a raid of a hotel room in Central Jakarta.

Detectives seized a set of molding machines used in making ecstasy pills, he said.

They also found several grams of shabu-shabu and ecstasy powder, packed in small plastic bags, he said.

During the trial, the defendant acknowledged the goods were hers, saying she spent Rp 35,000 (US$5) for a technician to design the equipment.

Maya, who said her husband lived in Sulawesi, plans to appeal to the Jakarta High Court. (asa)