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)