Singaporean gets 10 years in jail

TANGERANG (JP): Tangerang District Court sentenced a Singaporean on Saturday to 10 years in jail and fined her Rp 2 million for attempting to smuggle 5,852 ecstasy pills last year.

Presiding judge Lucia Usmany said Kow Mui Hat, 24, was caught on Sept. 26, 1999, at Terminal D of Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport when she tried to smuggle the ecstasy pills to Australia via Singapore.

The pills were strapped to her thighs.

She was charged under Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics which carries a maximum sentence of the death penalty/life imprisonment and a fine of Rp 1 billion.

"Even though the defendant behaved well and showed remorse during the trial, there are no mitigating circumstances for her.

"Kow Mui Hat committed a flagrant violation of the narcotics law. She contributed to a crime which is ruining a generation of the country," Lucia told the hearing. (41/edt)