Woman tried for alleged attempt of smuggling heroin
Woman tried for alleged attempt of smuggling heroin
TANGERANG (JP): The Tangerang District Court began on
Wednesday the hearing of a drugs case involving an Indonesian
woman who is alleged to have attempted to smuggle one kilogram of
heroin into the country from Thailand in June.
Prosecutor Siti Zahara, who read out the three-page
indictment, charged that the defendant Edith Yunita Sianturi, 24,
a resident of Jl. Wijaya Kusuma IX, Depok, West Java, had
violated Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on drugs. The Article
carries the death penalty.
According to the prosecutor, the defendant had attempted to
smuggle one kilogram of heroin from Thailand into the country
through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on June 4.
She said that customs officers Handoyo, Pratikno and Terry
Zakaria Muslim became suspicious when they noticed the unusual
thickness of the sides of the defendant's purse as she
disembarked at Terminal D from TG Airways flight 413 arriving
from Bangkok at 5 p.m.
"The officers then took the defendant to the special customs
and excise post for further examination," the prosecutor told the
court.
She said Handoyo then inserted a needle into the sides of the
defendant's purse and as the needle was being withdrawn, a white
powder suspected of being a drug was found adhering to it.
Zahara said the officers then tore the purse's sides open and
found three brown packets containing the white powder, which
weighed a total of one kilogram. Further examination at the
National Police laboratory later confirmed that the white powder
was heroin.
Clad in a long-sleeved white blouse and black slacks, the
defendant, Edith, who used to work as a sales assistant at the
Poppy Dharsono cosmetics counter in the Sarinah shopping center
on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, was unable to utter a word when
encountered by The Jakarta Post, and contained to shed tears from
the time she entered until she eventually was led out of the
courtroom.
Lawyer Husein Tohuteru, who was appointed by the court to
represent the defendant, told the panel of judges that he would
require one week to study the prosecution indictment and prepare
a defense.
Presiding Judge Maha Nikmah adjourned the trial until Sept.
26.
Pakistani
The district court was also scheduled to begin a separate
trial of a Pakistani, Muchamad Abdul Hafeez, in another drugs'
case.
Prosecutor Ferry Silalahi, however, said the court had
postponed Hafeez's trial because of the absence of an
interpreter.
Ferry said that customs and excise officers had foiled
Hafeez's attempt to smuggle 1.5 kilograms of heroin into the
country from Pakistan through Soekarno-Hatta Airport in May of
this year.
In the past 18 months, the court has handed down death
sentences to 13 defendants in drugs offenses.(41)