Zarina to be charged with trafficking Ecstasy
Zarina to be charged with trafficking Ecstasy
PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen.
Hamami Nata said yesterday that Zarina, the Ecstasy-case suspect
recently apprehended in Houston, USA, would be tried for drug
trafficking.
He said police investigations revealed the 24-year-old woman
was trafficking the 29,677 Ecstasy pills found in her home in
west Jakarta three months ago.
Indonesia has no law on Ecstasy. Any Ecstasy-related cases are
dealt with by the existing 1992 Health Law, which deals with,
among other things, dangerous drugs.
According to article 79 of the law, anyone found distributing
dangerous drugs faces a maximum jail term of 15 years or a fine
of up to Rp 300 million.
"Preliminary investigations showed Zarina had tried to
distribute the pills which did not belong to her," Hamami said
after attending the 51st anniversary of the elite Mobile Brigade
police corps yesterday.
National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo had earlier said
Zarina was probably an Ecstasy syndicate's new dealer.
The Health Law does not prohibit the possession of dangerous
drugs.
Ecstasy is considered a dangerous drug and a bill on
psychotropic drugs is still being deliberated.
Article 58 of the bill says anyone caught illegally producing
or distributing, exporting or importing psychotropic drugs will
be face up to 20 years jail or fines of up to Rp 500 million
(US$212,765).
Zarina, who is in Houston waiting to be tried for U.S.
immigration violations, has made headlines in local newspapers
since her escape from a police escort in August.
She is expected to return to Jakarta next week to face the
drug trafficking charges.
Hamami had earlier expressed his disappointment over court
verdicts meted out to Ecstasy distributors. "Both sentence
demands and court verdicts should have been higher," he said,
responding to reports that most Ecstasy-related case defendants
got less than one year in jail.
On Wednesday a state prosecutor asked the Tangerang District
Court to sentence a defendant to one year in jail and fine her Rp
3 million for trafficking 9,000 Ecstasy pills.
Last week the same court sentenced a businessman to eight
months jail for attempting to traffic more than 700 Ecstasy
pills.
Hamami had earlier said he wanted members of the House of
Representatives working on the bill on psychotropic drugs to
introduce a minimum penalty for Ecstasy offenders.
"Charging Ecstasy offenders with a maximum term has only
brought comfort to them because they know they could be jailed
for as little as one day. A minimum penalty is needed," Hamami
said. (bsr)