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Subject: Kopassus and Brimob Housing Complexes Raided, Ecstasy Lab
Busted [+Prosecutors Implicated in Drug Case Controversy]
also: JG: Prosecutors Implicated in Drug Case Controversy The Jakarta Globe May 2, 2009 City Police Discover Ecstasy Lab Amid Kopassus and Mobile Brigade Housing City police on Friday raided two houses in Depok, West Java, where ecstasy pills were allegedly being manufactured. A police official said that five suspected drug dealers were arrested. One of the houses was located in a housing complex for the police’s elite Mobile Brigade, while the other was in a complex for members of the Army’s elite Special Forces, or Kopassus. The chief of the Jakarta Police Narcotics Directorate, Arman Depari, told the press on Friday that a lab was set up in a rented home in the Mobile Brigade complex in Kelapa Dua, Depok. From there, thousands of ecstasy pills were transported to the house in the Kopassus complex on Jalan Camar, also in Kelapa Dua. “We found 10 tons of ecstasy ingredients,” he said. The lab was set up in a two-story house, which also had a three-story storehouse equipped with a bunker containing chemical supplies, drums, jerry cans, and trays for pills. The house had five rooms outfitted with closed-circuit television and a camera placed out front to monitor anyone entering or leaving. The officers also found 19 drums containing chemicals including methanol, acetone and ammonia. Arman said that the lab was capable of synthesizing batches containing 100 kilograms of the active ingredient of ecstasy. Each kilogram can be made into 5,000 pills, so a single round of production would yield 500,000 doses. The police arrested five suspects in the raid, including Andreas Sonpi Rotty, who was believed to be the owner. Police also confiscated drug-making equipment and chemical substances. Erizal, head of the neighborhood, said that the cream-colored house actually belonged to Andreas’s brother-in-law, Enrico. Andreas began occupying the newly constructed house about a month ago. Erizal also said that local residents had been suspicious because the house, with its high perimeter fences, more closely resembled a warehouse than a place of residence. Moreover, he said, the owner of the house had never interacted with his neighbors. “We saw vehicles coming in and out of the house, even at night,” he said. Erizal’s suspicion was confirmed when Andreas failed to produce a KK, or family card that lists the members of a family living in a particular house. Andreas only submitted a copy of his identity card, or KTP. The house had been surrounded by a police perimeter, and officers were on the scene. ------------------------ The Jakarta Globe May 2, 2009 Prosecutors Implicated in Drug Case Controversy by Heru Andriyanto Two district prosecutors in the West Jakarta office breached internal procedures in the prosecution of a drug case that ended with the defendant being sentenced to only a year in jail following a controversial trial, a senior official said on Friday. Prosecutor Sultoni, who brought the case to the West Jakarta District Court, and Suparno, the head of the prosecution team, failed to report to their office head before preparing the indictment, said Hamzah Tadja, the deputy attorney general for internal supervision. “They reported to the head of the West Jakarta Prosecutors’ Office only after the trial was concluded,” he told reporters. In addition, Sultoni and Suparno recommended only a one and a half year sentence for the defendant — Gunawan Tjahjadi — despite the seriousness of his crime. “I have recommended sanctions for the two. The attorney general [Hendarman Supandji] will decide,” Hamzah said without elaborating. Abdul Hakim Riotnga, another deputy for general crimes, said earlier that drug trafficking was considered a serious offense and the Attorney General’s Office had to sign off on sentencing requests in drug trafficking cases. However, the controversy did not end there. The trial verdict was handed down only one day after the trial began, extremely quick by Indonesian standards. And after Gunawan was sentenced on Feb. 18, the convict escaped from Sultoni and Suparno’s custody. He was rearrested last month and immediately sent to prison in Tangerang. Jakarta Police have denied any misconduct, saying they handed over Gunawan, his documents and all the evidence in the case to Sultoni before the trial began, and have a signed receipt from the prosecutor.
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