Prosecutor charged with drug dealing, illegal gun possession
Prosecutor charged with drug dealing, illegal gun possession
Abdul Khalik
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Jakarta Police investigators announced on Friday that they would
charge Hendra Ruhendra, a prosecutor at the Cibinong Prosecutor's
Office in West Java, with drug dealing and illegal ownership of
guns.
Drug unit chief at the city police Adj. Sr. Comr. Sugeng I.
Rikolo said that they had submitted Hendra's case file to the
Jakarta Prosecutor's Office on Thursday.
"We are now waiting for prosecutor's announcement whether the
case file is already complete so it can be admitted to the court
soon," he said.
By law, the prosecutor's office has 14 days to determine
whether the case file is ready for trial or needs to be returned
to the police for additional evidence.
Sugeng said that police found sufficient evidence, including
the drugs and the guns and witnesses -- including several other
prosecutors in Cibinong -- to charge the suspect.
Laws No. 22/1997 on narcotics and No. 5/1997 on psychotropic
substances stipulate that a drug offender may face the death
sentence as the maximum punishment.
Hendra, 40, the head of the general crimes section at the
Cibinong Prosecutor's Office, was arrested in his apartment in
South Jakarta on Aug. 26 with 187 grams of crystal
methamphetamine, known in local slang as shabu-shabu, as well as
two unlicensed guns and one licensed gun.
Police arrested him after they were informed by Subur
Supriandono, 29, who was arrested on Aug. 25 in Cilandak, South
Jakarta, with 32 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
Subur confessed to the police that he bought the drug from
Hendra.
Sugeng said that aside from charging Hendra with drug dealing,
the police also would charge him with illegal ownership of guns.
"He said that he got the two guns when he was assigned in
Kalimantan. The National Police Headquarters confirmed that the
guns had no license," he said.
Article 1 of Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on illegal possession
of gun with maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The Attorney General's Office has announced recently that they
had temporarily removed Hendra from his post pending the court's
final decision.