Nigerian gets death for smuggling

Nigerian gets death for smuggling

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post/Tangerang

Tangerang District Court sentenced to death on Wednesday Nigerian
Daniel Enemuo alias Diarrassauba Mamadou, 28, for attempting to
smuggle 1.150 grams of heroin into the country from Pakistan
early in January.

Earlier this month, the same court sentenced Nigerian citizen
Silverster Obiekwe Nwolise, 39, to death, for smuggling in 1.2
kilograms of heroin from Pakistan in December.

The court met the prosecutors' demands for the death penalty
and a Rp 50 million (US$5,434) fine.

Presiding judge Maha Nikmah said the panel of judges had not
found any mitigating factors.

Enemuo, the 29th drug trafficker sentenced to death by the
court since January 2000, told his lawyer, Dady Waluyo, that he
would appeal the verdict.

The court found Enemuo guilty of violating Article 82 of Law
No. 22/1997 on drugs, for transporting illegal drugs.

"The defendant ignored the Indonesian government's antidrug
campaign, and his act could destroy the lives of thousands of
young people, as well as Indonesia's standing in the
international community," Maha said.

Prosecutor Eben Silalahi said Nwolise -- who was arrested on
Dec. 21 -- had provided information that led to the arrest of
Daniel at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, on
Jan. 4.

Police officers apprehended Enemuo as he was about to leave
the airport in a taxi. The officers asked for his identification
and were given his passport bearing the name of Diarrassauba
Mamadou.

The officers took him to hospital where a scan revealed hard
objects in his stomach.

The defendant was told to take laxatives to excrete the
objects, which were later found to be 65 heroin-filled capsules.

Enemuo said that a man called Jostus had told him to hand the
capsules over to another man called Joe in Jakarta, for which he
would receive US$2,500. Both Joe and Jostus are still at large.

In his written defense, Enemuo, an elementary school graduate,
said that he was not guilty as he had not known the capsules
contained heroin.

"I never lied in my life ... Jostus told me that it was only
medicine for animals. I was asked to swallow them to avoid
customs and excise fees."

To date, none of the traffickers on death row in Tangerang
have been executed. Six of them have had their death sentences
commuted to jail terms of between 15 and 20 years after appealing
to higher courts.