Witness implicates Dutchman in drug trafficking trial
JAKARTA (JP): A prosecution witness said yesterday that Dutch national Christian van den Bosch, who is on trial for drug trafficking, was about to sell the contraband at the time of his arrest.
Maj. Charles Marpaung, chief of Central Jakarta police's crime intelligence unit, testified at Central Jakarta District Court that the defendant was "in the process of conducting an illegal transaction."
Christian, along with fellow Dutchman Leonard Iacobus, alias Levi, and two Americans, Steven J. Bryner and Peter M. Karajin, were arrested on Feb. 6 at the coffee shop in Jakarta's Borobudur Inter-Continental hotel.
They were caught trying to sell some 5,000 pills of a drug popularly known as Eva containing derivat amphetamine, a narcotic-like substance.
Marpaung explained that Christian and the two Americans waited at their table while Levi went with the potential buyer to conduct the transaction in the restroom. It was at this time that the police made the arrests.
Charles testified that the witness and his accomplices attempted to escape but were apprehended by police officers.
The potential buyer, an Indonesian by the name of Irsan, managed to escape and remains at large.
During the trial, the prosecution, led by Suriansjah, introduced the aforementioned drugs as evidence.
Police investigators have discovered that the 27-year-old defendant first entered the country in October 1992 as a tourist and has since made six trips here.
It was during one of these visits that he met a woman named Nova at the trendy Tanamur discotheque in Central Jakarta.
Nova ordered between 5,000 and 6,000 of the Eva pills at a price of Rp 80,000 (US$37) each. Thus the total value of the arranged transaction is in excess of Rp 400 million ($188,700).
To fill the order, in July 1993 the defendant then sent the pills by air freight from the Netherlands to Bryner, who happened to work as a security officer at the American embassy here.
The defendant returned to Jakarta in January and on Feb. 5 was contacted by Irsan who said he would conduct the drug deal the next day on behalf of Nova.
Maj. Marpaung revealed that it was at this time that he received a tip that the deal was about to go down. However, he refused to disclose his source.
Christian's accomplice Levi is being tried separately while the two Americans, under the protection of diplomatic immunity, left the country and will be tried in the United States.
During yesterday's trial, the defendant's lawyers, led by Azis Affandi, questioned the police's failure to capture Irsan and the disappearance of Nova.
However, Judge Djamil Sularso overruled the defendant's lawyers' questioning as irrelevant.
The trials of both Christian van den Bosch and Leonard Iacobus were adjourned until week at which time the defense will make its case. (mds)