DEATH DEMANDED FOR ALLEGED COCAINE SMUGGLER

TANGERANG (JP): A prosecutor demanded the Tangerang District Court on
Thursday sentence defendant Merika Franola, alias Ola, aged 30, to death
and fine her Rp 1 billion (US$112,400) for allegedly attempting to smuggle
coc aine and heroin out of Indonesia.

"The defendant has violated the 1997 Narcotics Law, for delivering 3.5
kilograms of cocaine to two other defendants for export; and for possession
of 3.5 kilograms of heroin at her residence," Prosecutor Mursidi told the
hearing presided over by judge Asep Iwan Irawan.

Paragraph 1a of Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics trade and
distribution carries the death sentence and a fine of Rp 1 billion.

"The inexcusable action of the defendant was that she, on several
occasions, ordered two other defendants, alleged drug couriers, Deni Setya
Maharwan and Ranni Andriani, to bring narcotics from Thailand and Pakistan
into Indonesia," Mursidi said.

Although Mursidi said the confiscated evidence was 3.5 kilograms of cocaine
and 3.5 kilograms of heroin, it was reported earlier that city police
detectives had seized six kilograms of cocaine and US$3,000 in cash from co
urier and defendant Ranni Andriani, and five kilograms of cocaine and
$3,000 in cash from courier and defendant Deni Setya Maharwan at the
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Jan. 12 of this year.

Both couriers were about to board a London-bound flight via Hong Kong at
the time of their arrest.

Police also apprehended five other people at the airport who were suspected
of being couriers for the same syndicate.

One of the five other suspects, later identified as defendant Merika
Franola was found with 1.6 kilograms of heroin and four kilograms of cocaine.

She was identified as the coordinator of the local couriers.

The arrests led police detectives to the home of five African nationals in
Cipete, South Jakarta, on Jan. 12.

The five men, who allegedly headed the local drug trafficking operation,
were shot and killed by police in a gunfight.

The men were identified as Semeiu Jhola Oladi Pupo and Muueeden Boca Rinwa
of Nigeria; Freeman Charles Siafa of Liberia; Ebraheem Mohammed of Togo;
and Mouza Sulaiman Domala of the Ivory Coast.

Ola, who was married to Mouza, said that she became a drug courier last
year to help her husband.

She said she received handsome payment for coordinating the collection and
delivery of drugs by the six local couriers.

"Mouza told me in late 1998 that my duty was to help him," Ola said at the
Jakarta Police Headquarters in January.

She said she believed Mouza was a footwear and garment trader when she
married him in February 1998.

"After I gave birth to our baby in August 1998, he used to beat me badly
because he was frustrated with his job. I never dared ask him outright what
he did. Somehow, though, I had an inkling.

"Later I found out that a friend of mine who was somehow involved with
Mouza in the drug business had died mysteriously. Then I got really scared."

She said the lucrative offers to help Mouza eventually became too tempting
to refuse.

One job was to peer through the airport windows to verify if the couriers
successfully passed through immigration. She also took trips to countries
such as Argentina and Brazil to confirm the safety of routes for the couriers.

Ola insisted that there was no collusion with Indonesian officials and "I
never bribed any airport officials". (41/ylt)