Nigerian gets 20 years in jail

JAKARTA (JP): A 28-year-old Nigerian, found guilty of selling 2.5 kilograms of heroin, was sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined Rp 50 million at the Central Jakarta District Court Thursday.

After the verdict, Edhosa Aghahowa, alias Temmy, continued to protest his innocence.

Presiding Judge Asmar Ismail said Temmy was arrested along with his girlfriend, Yuningsih, in Pecenongan on Aug. 14. Police had been alerted to his activities by Yusak, an informer, to whom Temmy had offered to sell 5 kg heroin after meeting him in a room in Hotel Pecenongan.

Yusak agreed to buy 2.5 kilograms of the heroin with money provided by the police.

Temmy, Yuningsih and Yusak then went to the Sintera Hotel, Pasar Baru, in a taxi driven by an undercover police officer, Asmar said.

The judge said that Temmy collected the heroin from a Nigerian friend, Lewis, inside the hotel. The trio then returned to the Pecenongan area where Temmy exchanged a plastic bag containing heroin for Yusak's money.

Police officers, who had been following the taxi, moved in to make arrests after the taxi driver signaled that the bag had changed hands.

Asmar said Temmy claimed that he did not know the plastic bag contained heroin and had merely been ordered by Lewis to give the bag to Yusak. Lewis is still at large.

Prosecutor Agus Widodo earlier asked the court to sentence the defendant to death for violating Article 23 (5) of the Law No. 6/1976 on narcotics.

Both the prosecutor and the defendant appealed the judge's decision. (jun)