Nigerian drug traffickers could face capital charges
Nigerian drug traffickers could face capital charges
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After a week of interrogation, the Jakarta City Police revealed
on Thursday that eight of the 37 Nigerians arrested last week
could face the maximum death sentence for drug trafficking and
immigration violations.
"Those eight suspects have violated both the Immigration Law
and the law on drug abuse," city police detectives chief for the
drugs and narcotics division, Adj. Sr. Comr. Anjan P. Putra, told
The Jakarta Post.
The eight suspects, who were nabbed along with 29 other
Nigerians in a raid at a budget hotel in Tanah Abang, Central
Jakarta, have been identified as: Fransisco Ugwoke, Chidi
Ekemene, Chuis Okafos Imede, Arinze Frankline Duru, Gnab Nnadi,
Dyke Olekamma, Eugene Ape and Joseph Samuel.
According to Law No. 22/1997 on drug abuse, if convicted,
these suspects may face the death sentence.
They are also charged with Article 53 of Immigration Law No.
9/1992, which carries a maximum six years in jail, for failure to
present their passports, Anjan said.
The officer said 25 other Nigerians would also be charged with
the immigration violation, while the remaining four were
eventually released, as they were textile traders who happened to
be in the wrong place at the time of the raid.
Anjan said police were working on the dossiers of the 33
suspects.
In addition to around 300 grams of heroin, putauw (low-grade
heroin) and a scale found in two suitcases, police also found out
that some of the suspects had swallowed sausage-like packages
filled with heroin.
The drug bust took place at the Tanah Abang Indah Hotel, only
a few hundred meters away from the Tanah Abang textile market,
which was gutted by a fire that burned for four days last week.
The men were apprehended after police received tips from
residents, who said that Mamanda Restaurant in Tanah Abang had
become a meeting point for drug traffickers to make transactions.
Anjan said police found it difficult to question the Nigerian
suspects, as they were uncooperative.
"They can speak English, but they often communicated with each
other using their native language to obstruct our interrogation,"
said Anjan.
Anjan said Nigerians were generally known to be textile
traders in Tanah Abang, pointing at the four who had eventually
been released by the police.
"But some of them are involved in drug trafficking or
counterfeit operations here," said the officer.
Last year, police arrested three Nigerians at Regency Melati
Mas housing estate in Serpong, Tangerang, on Aug. 22, 2002, for
allegedly smuggling 5.9 kilograms of heroin into the country. The
three are the late Izuchukwu Okoloaja, alias Kholisan Nkomo, 25,
Michael Titus Igweh, 23, and Hillary K. Chimezie, 33.
The three defendants were acquitted upon a ruling by the
Tangerang District Court on Feb. 4, citing legal technicalities,
but the police recaptured them. Okoloaja died while he was under
police custody.
"We've completed the dossiers (for Igweh and Chimezie). Next
week, we will submit the dossiers to the prosecutors," Anjan
said.
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After a week of interrogation, the Jakarta City Police revealed
on Thursday that eight of the 37 Nigerians arrested last week
could face the maximum death sentence for drug trafficking and
immigration violations.
"Those eight suspects have violated both the Immigration Law
and the law on drug abuse," city police detectives chief for the
drugs and narcotics division, Adj. Sr. Comr. Anjan P. Putra, told
The Jakarta Post.
The eight suspects, who were nabbed along with 29 other
Nigerians in a raid at a budget hotel in Tanah Abang, Central
Jakarta, have been identified as: Fransisco Ugwoke, Chidi
Ekemene, Chuis Okafos Imede, Arinze Frankline Duru, Gnab Nnadi,
Dyke Olekamma, Eugene Ape and Joseph Samuel.
According to Law No. 22/1997 on drug abuse, if convicted,
these suspects may face the death sentence.
They are also charged with Article 53 of Immigration Law No.
9/1992, which carries a maximum six years in jail, for failure to
present their passports, Anjan said.
The officer said 25 other Nigerians would also be charged with
the immigration violation, while the remaining four were
eventually released, as they were textile traders who happened to
be in the wrong place at the time of the raid.
Anjan said police were working on the dossiers of the 33
suspects.
In addition to around 300 grams of heroin, putauw (low-grade
heroin) and a scale found in two suitcases, police also found out
that some of the suspects had swallowed sausage-like packages
filled with heroin.
The drug bust took place at the Tanah Abang Indah Hotel, only
a few hundred meters away from the Tanah Abang textile market,
which was gutted by a fire that burned for four days last week.
The men were apprehended after police received tips from
residents, who said that Mamanda Restaurant in Tanah Abang had
become a meeting point for drug traffickers to make transactions.
Anjan said police found it difficult to question the Nigerian
suspects, as they were uncooperative.
"They can speak English, but they often communicated with each
other using their native language to obstruct our interrogation,"
said Anjan.
Anjan said Nigerians were generally known to be textile
traders in Tanah Abang, pointing at the four who had eventually
been released by the police.
"But some of them are involved in drug trafficking or
counterfeit operations here," said the officer.
Last year, police arrested three Nigerians at Regency Melati
Mas housing estate in Serpong, Tangerang, on Aug. 22, 2002, for
allegedly smuggling 5.9 kilograms of heroin into the country. The
three are the late Izuchukwu Okoloaja, alias Kholisan Nkomo, 25,
Michael Titus Igweh, 23, and Hillary K. Chimezie, 33.
The three defendants were acquitted upon a ruling by the
Tangerang District Court on Feb. 4, citing legal technicalities,
but the police recaptured them. Okoloaja died while he was under
police custody.
"We've completed the dossiers (for Igweh and Chimezie). Next
week, we will submit the dossiers to the prosecutors," Anjan
said.