Nepalese man may face death penalty

JAKARTA (JP): A prosecutor asked South Jakarta District Court yesterday to sentence a young Nepalese man to death for trafficking 1.2 kilograms of heroin.

Prosecutor Sugiyanto said the defendant, 23-year-old Budhe Tamang, arrived here from Thailand with the heroin on April 22 and stayed at Prapanca Hotel in South Jakarta.

Sugiyanto said that the senior high school student had swallowed 143 capsules containing heroin and put the remainder in his bag.

Police arrested Budhe and a Nepalese friend, identified as Aita Ram Tamang, at the hotel the following day and officers found the capsules hidden under a mattress, he said.

The capsules -- which were wrapped in a shower cap -- were believed to have been excreted from Budhe's body because feces covered some of the capsules, he said.

The court has already sentenced Aita to eight months in jail for failing to tell police about his friend's activities, he said.

Aita, who was staying at a hotel on Jl. Jaksa, Central Jakarta, visited Budhe who was taking his first trip to Indonesia, he said.

Budhe told the court through an interpreter that he got the capsules from a man named Ghale, who he met at a hotel in Jakarta.

"Ghale told me to keep, what he called, important medicine and promised to pick them up but he never returned," the defendant said.

Sugiyanto said Budhe had violated Article 23 (4) of Law No. 9/1976 on narcotics.

"The defendant obstructed the government's efforts to stop the trafficking of heroin, which it fears will destroy the young generation."

Presiding judge Jalius Amin adjourned the trial until next week to hear the defendant's plea.

Budhe told reporters outside the court that the prosecution's demand for the death penalty was too harsh.

"I'm still young," he said. (jun)