Police deplore sentence for smugglers

Police deplore sentence for smugglers

SEMARANG: Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi
expressed regret on Friday over the lenient sentences for
suspects found guilty of smuggling 85 kilograms of gold.

The Boyolali District Court jailed a key suspect, Nusantara
Putra, for only four months on Tuesday, and two other suspects
Budi Cahyono and Ang Oen Tjoen for three months and five days
respectively.

The verdict was handed down in the trial presided over by
Harnani.

Prosecutors had sought an eight-month prison sentence for the
three defendants.

"If we had known the result would be like this, it would have
been better not to bring the case to court. The suspects had been
involved in gold smuggling on six occasions. We foiled their
seventh attempt at Adisumarno Airport in Surakarta," Didi said in
Semarang, Central Java.

He said the seven cases of gold were worth billions of rupiah.
"It shows how much of our foreign exchange has been lost in this
way." --JP