Pakistani man tried for heroin case
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)