Pakistani man tried for 1 kg of heroin
Pakistani man tried for 1 kg of heroin
TANGERANG (JP): The Tangerang District Court began on
Wednesday the trial of a drug case involving a Pakistani who had
allegedly smuggled more than one kilogram of heroin from Pakistan
into the country in June this year.
Prosecutor Ferry Silalahi, reading out his five-page
indictment, said the defendant, Muhamad Abdul Hafeez, 32, a
resident of Karachi, Pakistan, had attempted to smuggle 1,050
grams of heroin into the country through Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport on June 26.
According to the prosecutor, before leaving Pakistan for a
vacation to Indonesia, the defendant had bought the heroin for
US$1,000 from a man called Amin Khan in the town of Psawar in
Pakistan. Its value here is worth some Rp 500 million ($52,631).
"The defendant then wrapped the heroin into three small taped
plastic packets, put them in his handbag and flew to Indonesia,"
Ferry told the hearing.
The prosecutor said that as the defendant arrived at the
airport's terminal D, a customs and excise officer Donny Dumpang
Harahap was suspicious of the defendant who had only brought a
handbag from Pakistan.
The suspect also looked nervous as he was walking past the
airport's green channel.
Suspicious Donny then called the suspect and directed him to
another officer Yudi Dharma Nauli, who was then asked to conduct
an X-ray examination of the suspects' handbag, the prosecutor
said.
The customs monitor screen showed that there were three small
packets in the handbag and when the officer asked, the suspect
said the packets contained food according to the prosecutor.
"To convince the suspicious officers, the suspect then took
out the three packets before immediately putting them back into
his handbag," Ferry added.
However, he said the suspicious officers then examined the
three packets again by using narchotest (a machine used for
identifying narcotics) and the test was positive, indicating that
the packets contained heroin.
Ferry said the results of laboratory tests conducted by the
National Police on July 9 also confirmed that the packet did
contain heroin.
Prosecutor Ferry then charged the defendant with the violation
of Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on drugs.
The article carries a maximum punishment of death.
Clad in a white sports shirt and blue jeans, Hafeez, a father
of a 14-month-old baby and a garment businessman, confessed that
he had taken the heroin only for his own private consumption
while on vacation in the country.
Death
"I was not trafficking in drugs. I brought the heroin only for
my own consumption.
"Besides, I didn't have any knowledge that Indonesia imposes
the death penalty on those who violate its drugs laws," he told
The Jakarta Post before the session began.
Hafeez said he accepted all the prosecutor's indictment and
left all matters concerning his trial up to the panel of judges,
presided over by M. Soleh Mokoginta.
Representing the defendant, lawyer Husein Tuhuteru said that
Hafeez would not file any arguments against the prosecutor's
indictment.
Mokoginta adjourned the hearing until next Wednesday when
witnesses will be heard.
Since January last year, the court had sentenced 14 drug
dealers, including several foreigners, to death.(41)