Two foreigners jailed

Two foreigners jailed

JAKARTA (JP): The West Jakarta District Court sent two
foreigners to prison for five months each for accessing cellular
phone numbers belonging to seven Indonesians.

The panel of judges found Ng Chee Leong, 28, of Malaysia and
Hasnat Ahmad Varya, 25, of Pakistan guilty of violating Article
12 of the 1989 Law on Telecommunications pertaining to violations
of telecommunication rules.

The sentence was half of what government prosecutor Ohoi Ulun
had demanded from the court.

The prosecutor had dropped an earlier charge of theft under
article 365 of the Criminal Code for lack of evidence.

Chee Leong and Varya gained access to the seven cellular phone
numbers using sophisticated tools such as a handmade cellular
phone, according to the police.

They were arrested at a hotel in Mangga Besar district in
April by police after the seven owners of the telephone accounts
complained that their bills in March were unusually large.

Police said the defendants had made the seven numbers
available for long distance calls to phone users in Malaysia.

The judges said they had decided on a light sentence because
both defendants had admitted their guilt and shown remorse in
court.

Both defendants said they accepted the punishment. (12)