Prosecution seeks death in 'Boy from Brazil' drug case
Prosecution seeks death in 'Boy from Brazil' drug case
Multa Fidrus Tangerang
Prosecutors demanded on Tuesday that Brazilian citizen, Marco
Archer Cardoso Moreira, 42, be sentenced to death by the
Tangerang District Court for smuggling 13.4 kilograms of cocaine
through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport last August.
Beside the maximum penalty, prosecutors Adrizal and Eben
Silalahi also requested the court to order the defendant to pay
Rp 300 million (US$33,333) in fines. According to the
prosecutors, the defendant was guilty of smuggling the drugs and
violated Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on drugs.
"If the defendant was successful in smuggling the drugs from
Peru into the country, we can't imagine how many young lives
would have been destroyed," Adrizal said.
The prosecutors said there were no mitigating factors.
Moreira met with John Miller, who is still at large, at Lalu
Restaurant on Jl. Orberoi, Bali, last June. Miller gave him
US$10,000 and asked him to fly to Dolphin Bungalow in Cikama,
Peru.
Miller told the defendant that a man called Cino, also still
at large, would meet him and gave him plastic bags containing
cocaine. After concealing the cocaine in his paraglider frame,
Moreira then went to Trijillo in Peru by car and flew to Lima by
Lam Peru Airlines. The defendant stayed for several days in
Koitos in Lima. He then carried the drugs to Sao Paolo and
boarded flight KLM 837 to Jakarta, arriving on Aug. 2, 2003.
Airport security officers, who asked him to put his luggage
through the X-ray, became suspicious as one of his seven bags
contained strange objects.
Officers opened the bag but the defendant said that it only
contained a paraglider frame. They then asked the defendant to
show his customs declaration and passport.
"No problem," he replied while walking toward a trolley to get
the documents. At the same time, two Garuda flights had arrived
and the incoming passengers crowded the terminal.
The defendant then ran off, leaving his bags behind. Officers
tried to catch him but to no avail. They later opened his bags
and found the paraglider frame filled with 29 black plastic bags
containing white powder.
A test confirmed that the white powder was cocaine, weighing
13.4 kilograms.
National Police tracked down the defendant who was hiding out
in a house belonging to Ahmad Abdullah, a resident of Sumbawa
island, West Nusa Tenggara, on Aug. 16. When the police asked him
to show some identification, the defendant said he had thrown
away his passport, but said his name was Marco Archer Cardoso
Moreira.
Presiding judge Suprapto adjourned the trial until next
Tuesday to hear the defendant's defense plea.