B

ali Police chief Insp. Gen. Albertus Julius Benny Mokalu declared on Friday that Heather Lois Mack, 19, and Tommy Schaefer, 21, a US couple who allegedly killed Mack'€™s mother, could be charged under Article 340 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on premeditated murder.

'€œI'€™m sure it was premeditated murder. Why? Because the suspects deliberately placed the dead body in a suitcase. We will probably charge them under Article 340 of the Criminal Code,'€ Benny told journalists.

Article 340 carries a maximum sentence of life in prison or capital punishment.

The couple allegedly killed Mack'€™s 62-year-old mother, Sheila von Weise Mack, and placed her body in a silver suitcase, which they put in the trunk of a taxi at The St. Regis Bali Resort on Tuesday afternoon. They then left the hotel, where they had been vacationing, via the beach.

Benny gave assurances that the couple would be processed under Indonesian law as the murder had occurred in the country.

'€œThey have yet to make a statement. However, in the Indonesian legal system, if someone commits a crime in Indonesia, whoever it is, Indonesian citizen or foreigner, we will process them based on Indonesian law,'€ Benny said.

'€œThat they have not made a statement is not a problem. All the evidence we have, including the CCTV footage, fingerprints and the luggage, shows that they were the perpetrators,'€ he added.

Meanwhile, Mack has claimed that she is pregnant. She said it was an ectopic pregnancy that required treatment in her home country.

'€œShe told the police she is pregnant. She said it is an ectopic pregnancy and so she needs to fly back to her country soon for medical treatment,'€ Bali Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Hery Wiyanto confirmed on Friday.

To verify her statement, the police conducted a pregnancy test on her at the Bhayangkara police hospital on Jl. Trijata Denpasar on Friday.

The test was performed by Dr. Sudastra, an obstetrician and gynecologist.

Mack also underwent a health test on Friday.

A health test was also conducted on Schaefer, who is Mack'€™s boyfriend. The couple was escorted from Denpasar Police station to the hospital in separate cars. The health test on Schaefer also included a psychiatric test.

'€œWe have yet to receive the test results,'€ Hery said.

'€œThe health test included a psychiatric test to determine her psychiatric condition,'€ Hery said.

The police have yet to interrogate the couple, who have refused to talk to the police before their lawyer arrives in Bali.

As reported previously, a taxi driver delivered a silver suitcase containing Von Weise Mack'€™s body to the South Kuta Police station on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the taxi driver, I Ketut Wirjana, he went to The St. Regis Bali Resort in Nusa Dua to pick up guests. When he arrived outside the hotel lobby, a foreign man and woman told him to open the trunk and placed the suitcase inside.

They then asked him to wait while they returned to the hotel lobby, but after two hours they had not returned to the taxi. CCTV footage examined later showed that the couple had left the hotel via the beach.