Two foreigners taken to court on drug charges
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The separate trials of a 45-year-old Thai woman, charged with smuggling heroin from Thailand, and a 28-year-old Nigerian man, charged with dealing in drugs, began on Tuesday at Tangerang District Court.
Prosecutor Martha P. Berliana said defendant Bunyong Khaosa Ard, a food vendor in Bangkok, Thailand, arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport's Terminal D on April 7 after disembarking from Thai Airlines flight TG-433.
She said Customs and Excise officers became suspicious when they saw the suspect looking nervous, confused and sweating profusely.
She was discovered to have suspicious objects in her stomach and was given special medicine, after which she vomited 45 capsules several hours later. A Narchotest examination later confirmed the capsules were filled with 450 grams of heroin.
According to the prosecutor, Ard was taken to Lahore, Pakistan on March 29 by a good-looking Thai woman called Tata, whom the defendant had got to know because the woman frequently bought her food and gave her extra money.
She said that in Lahore, Tata, who is still at large, asked the defendant to swallow the 45 capsules in a hotel room and then ordered her to fly to Bangkok. When they arrived in Bangkok on April 6, Tata asked her to fly on with the capsules to a man waiting at a hotel in Jakarta.
After being questioned, she led police officers to room 512 of Hotel Ibis in Slipi, West Jakarta.
The officers then caught Nigerian Obina Nwajagu red-handed as he received the drugs wrapped in plastic packets from Ard in the hotel room.
Obina was also tried at a separate hearing on Tuesday at the district court with the same prosecutor and panel of judges, but different lawyers.
"I needed at least US$150 to send my 11-year-old son and 8- year-old daughter to school. And Tata had promised to give me US$500 when I returned to Bangkok from Jakarta," Ard told The Jakarta Post.
Single-parent Ard claimed she had frequently heard about heroin but did not know what it was.
"I work as a food vendor in Bangkok to support my children. Tata often gave me money. If I had known it was against the law, I wouldn't have taken it," she said.
During the session, she was accompanied by Zaim Affandi, a Thai embassy official who acted as an interpreter and also lawyer Alisati Siregar.
Meanwhile, Obina, who could not speak Indonesian was also accompanied by an English interpreter and lawyer Horas Sirait. Prosecutor Martha charged the two defendants with violating Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on drugs. The article carries a maximum punishment of death.
Both lawyers stated no objections to the prosecutor's charges.
Presiding Judge Zainal Arifin adjourned the 2 p.m. hearing until next Tuesday to hear witnesses' testimonies.