Three years demanded for Dutchman

JAKARTA (JP): A government prosecutor yesterday demanded a three-year jail term for a 56-year-old Dutch businessman accused of trafficking nearly 1,000 Ecstasy pills.

Prosecutor Petrus Sambara also urged the Central Jakarta District Court to fine the defendant, who is a consultant for a local cement company, Rp. 2.5 million (US$1,050).

"We heard the testimony of two police officers who apprehended the defendant," the prosecutor said in reading his sentence demand.

An earlier charge that the Dutchman also manufactured the designer drug has been dropped because of a lack of evidence.

The defendant was arrested by on April 3 in the lobby of a four-star hotel on Jl. M.H. Thamrin, allegedly just as he was about to make a drug sale.

The two arresting officers told the court they found 498 Ecstasy pills in his possession, and another 500 pills in the defendant's Kijang van which was parked at another hotel nearby.

A search of his office in the West Jakarta subdistrict of Pondok Anggrek, found another 4,386 pills, the prosecution said.

The police, who acted on a tip off, failed to apprehend the buyer, a man known to the defendant only as Ho.

The defendant, who hails from Gouda in the Netherlands, has denied he was trafficking Ecstasy pills, saying that he was only "exhibiting" them.

The prosecutor invoked Article 81 (2) of the 1992 Health Law which outlaws the distribution of drugs that are not registered with the Ministry of Health.

However, the legislation does not prohibit possession of the pills. This is believed to be why the defendant was not charged in connection with the 4,386 pills found in his office.

If found guilty, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment and a fine of Rp 300 million (US$130,000).

The House of Representatives is currently debating a bill on psycothropic drugs, which includes Ecstasy, which are considered a menace to society.

Presiding judge Nurhayati adjourned the trial until Oct. 25 to hear the argument from the defendant and his lawyers Nazori Do'ak Achmad and Erick Paat. (16)