Prosecutors at the Medan District Court on Wednesday demanded the death penalty for a drug courier who allegedly trafficked 3.322 kg of heroin into the country from Laos.

Presiding judge Ardi Johan, had to stop defendant Winanti Rosmanasari, 24, from disrupting court proceedings as she cried hysterically when the prosecutors delivered the charge.

Prosecutor Hari Darmawan said the prosecutors demanded the death sentence on the grounds that Winanti had violated three articles of the 1997 Narcotics Law.

Hari said prosecutors had taken into consideration that the defendant had not heeded the government's drive to combat drug trafficking.

Prosecutors said Winanti attempted to smuggle in the heroin on behalf of her boyfriend, a Nigerian citizen named Jefftah, alias Mokoson, living in Jakarta.

Prosecutors said Mokoson, who is currently on the police's wanted list, had forged a partnership with three Nigerian convicts, who are still serving prison sentences, to sell the heroin.

The convicts were identified as Jhon Sebastian and Hilary, at the Banceuy prison in Bandung, and Joseph, at the Cipinang penitentiary in Jakarta. They are believed to have helped Mokoson deal drugs brought in by Winanti in the prisons.

The three convicts collectively were to buy the heroin cache from a man called Frank in Laos at Rp 600 million (approximately US$66,000). They had only paid Rp 300 million, with the rest to be settled when the heroin arrived.

To pick up the heroin from Frank, who is also on the police's wanted list, Mokoson used Winanti to fetch the drugs in Laos. He guided Winanti by phone to bring the heroin into the country.

Prosecutors said that Mokoson had successfully directed the defendant through Thailand and Malaysia by phone, before she was eventually caught in Indonesia.

Winanti was apprehended by customs officers at Belawan Port in Medan on Feb. 17, 2008, as she arrived aboard the MV Ekspress Bahagia ferry from Penang, Malaysia.

Customs officers were able to foil the smuggling attempt when the X-ray machine showed something suspicious in Winanti's baggage. The officers found heroin compacted into three rolls in her luggage.

In response to the charges, Winanti's lawyer Eva Ria Ginting said her client was just a victim.

"We will submit a plea against the charges. The death sentence is too harsh because our client is just a victim of the narcotics ring from Nigeria," Ginting told The Jakarta Post.

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