Singaporean gets 10 years in jail

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)