Pakistanis tried for trafficking heroin

JAKARTA (JP): Three Pakistani men have been indicted at Central Jakarta District Court for trafficking 450 grams of heroin.

Prosecutor Fachruddin identified the defendants, during separate sessions Thursday, as Choudry Muhammad Syafiq, 39, his brother, Choudry Muhammad Rafiq, 36, and Liquat Ali, 35.

Fachruddin said police arrested Syafiq and Rafiq and confiscated the heroin from them at Wisma Bintang Hotel on Jl. Tanah Tinggi on June 17.

He said Syafiq had been contacted by two men, who identified themselves as Jefri and Saka, who said they wanted to buy the heroin. Syafiq then telephoned Ali.

Syafiq, Rafiq and Ali met with a heroin dealer -- identified as Tahir -- on Jl. Garuda, he said.

The court was told that Ali took the heroin from Tahir while Syafiq and Rafiq waited in a taxi.

When Syafiq and Rafiq returned to their hotel, they telephoned Jefri and told him they had the heroin, the prosecutor said. Jefri came to the hotel with Rp 40 million (US$11,111).

Fachruddin said police caught the defendants red-handed and arrested Syafiq and Rafiq on the spot. But Jefri managed to escape.

He said Liquat Ali was apprehended the following day at a discotheque in West Jakarta. During the arrest Ali was shot in the left leg after he resisted arrest.

All three defendants were charged under Article 23 (5) of Law No. 9/1976 on narcotics which carries a death penalty and fines of Rp 50 million.

Syafiq, who claimed that he only could speak Urdu, revoked his statements in the dossiers. He said through an interpreter that he signed the dossiers after police interrogators beat him.

But a police officer told the court that Syafiq spoke English and Bahasa Indonesia while being interrogated at Jakarta Police Headquarters.

Presiding judge Agus AG. Dewata adjourned the trial until later this week to hear the defendants' lawyers' submissions. (jun)