TheJakartaPost
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Their stories
â Rani Andriani, alias Melissa ApriliaUnlike her two drug-convict cousins, who were spared by president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from death sentences in 2011, Rani has to confront a bleaker fate as President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo recently declined her request for clemency
' Rani Andriani, alias Melissa Aprilia
Unlike her two drug-convict cousins, who were spared by president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from death sentences in 2011, Rani has to confront a bleaker fate as President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo recently declined her request for clemency. She will face the firing squad on Sunday.
Rani, 38, is part of an international drug-dealing ring masterminded by her cousins Meirika Franola, alias Ola, and Deni Setia Marhawan.
Rani and Deni were arrested at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten on Jan. 12, 2000, for attempting to smuggle out 3.5 kilograms of heroin and 3 kg of cocaine to London, United Kingdom.
The police then arrested Ola at her house in Bogor, West Java, and confiscated 3.6 kg of heroin. Ola's husband, Tajudin, was shot dead during the arrest.
The Tangerang District Court in West Java sentenced the three to death in August 2000. The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court. However, in 2011, SBY granted clemency to Ola and Deni, changing their sentences to life in prison.
Less than 10 months after receiving clemency, Ola was arrested in her prison for masterminding a smuggling operation of more than 750 grams of crystal methamphetamine from India to Bandung, West Java.
' Tran Thi Bich Hanh
Vietnam national Tran, 37, was arrested by the police at the Adisoemarmo Airport in Surakarta, Central Java, on June 19, 2011, after carrying 1.1 kg of crystal methamphetamine worth around
Rp 2.2 billion (US$175,000) on her flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The local court sentenced her to death on Nov. 22, 2011. The decision was upheld a year later by the Supreme Court. Jokowi declined her request of clemency in December last year.
She is now held at the Bulu Female penitentiary in Semarang and will be transferred to Boyolali in Central Java to face the firing squad.
' Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira
Brazilian Moreira, 53, received the death penalty from the Tangerang District in 2004 for his role in trying to smuggle 13.4 kg of cocaine from Peru through Soekarno-Hatta airport in 2003. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence in 2005. Moreira, who is a professional paraglider, arrived at the airport on Aug. 2, 2003 from Peru.
Customs and security officers, who became suspicious because of Moreira's nervous behavior, had asked him for his identity documents when Moreira bolted, leaving behind his luggage, including his paragliding equipment.
The officers searched his belongings and discovered the cocaine concealed inside the paraglider's steel frame.
Moreira was caught in Lombok, where he was hiding, on Aug. 18, 2003. The Brazilian, who claimed to be a pilot, testified that he had been asked by a 'John Miller' to smuggle the drugs.
Miller is still at large and his whereabouts unknown.
Moreira also said during the trial that he owed $80,000 to Singapore General Hospital, where he had received treatment for 18 months in 1997 to recover from an airplane accident that left him paralyzed.
' Ang Kiem Soei, alias Kim Ho, alias Ance Tahir, alias Tommi Wijaya
The Tangerang District Court sentenced Ang, 62, a Dutch citizen, in 2003, to death for operating two ecstasy factories ' believed to be among the largest in the world at the time with the capacity to produce thousands of ecstasy pills per hour.
Ang was arrested in April 2002 after police raided his two ecstasy factories in Tangerang and confiscated at least 8,000 ecstasy pills and thousands of US dollars in cash from the buildings.
Ang, a resident of Utretcht, the Netherlands, was born in Fakfak, Papua, and is of Chinese descent.
Earlier, he had denied all crimes related to drug production and distribution, saying that he frequently visited the country in his capacity as a timber importer.
According to prosecutors, Ang had ordered some of the chemicals necessary for making ecstasy from a man named Leo Chandra, while other substances were imported from China.
Ang was arrested on April 6, 2002, at Hotel Borobudur in Central Jakarta following a tip from one of his accomplices, Tommy Bocor alias Tommy Palembang, who marketed the drugs internationally, including the in United States and China. Tommy Bocor and Leo Chandra were shot dead while attempting to escape police custody after leading police to the defendant's whereabouts.
' Daniel Enemuo alias Diarrassouba Mamadou
Nigerian Enemuo, 38, was sentenced to death by the Tangerang District Court in 2004 for attempting to smuggle 1,150 g of heroin into the country from Pakistan.
Enemuo was arrested in January 2004, at Soekarno-Hatta airport after the police received a tip-off from his accomplices.
Police officers apprehended Enemuo as he was about to leave the airport in a taxi. The officers asked for his identification and were given his passport bearing the name of Diarrassauba Mamadou.
The officers took him to hospital where a scan revealed hard objects in his stomach. The defendant was told to take laxatives to excrete the objects, which were later found to be 65 heroin-filled capsules.
Enemuo said that a man named Jostus had told him to hand the capsules over to another man named Joe in Jakarta, for which he would receive US$2,500. Both Joe and Jostus are still at large. In his written defense, Enemuo, an elementary school graduate, said that he was not guilty as he had not known the capsules contained heroin.
'I never lied in my life [...] Jostus told me that it was only medicine for animals. I was asked to swallow them to avoid customs and excise fees,' he said during the trial.
' Namaona Denis
Malawian Denis, 48, was sentenced to death in 2004 by the Tangerang District Court for smuggling a kilogram of heroin into the country through Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
Denis accepted a proposal from a man named Haifan at the Hotel Embassy in Pakistan on April 11 to deliver the heroin to Abidjan in West Africa.
But since Denis had a visa for Indonesia and Haifan happened to have an acquaintance in West Kalimantan, he changed his mind and ordered Denis to bring the heroin to Indonesia.
Denis was promised US$3,000 should he succeed in delivering the heroin to a man in Pontianak. He then swallowed 73 capsules containing the heroin, before boarding a Singapore Airlines flight in Karachi and flying to Indonesia.
When he arrived at Soekarno-Hatta airport on April 15, customs and excise officers became suspicious when they noticed that he was very nervous and perspiring heavily.
The officers handed Denis over to a medical team. Further examination at the airport's hospital revealed that there were strange objects in his stomach.
'I want the lawmaking body to realize that foreigners do not clearly understand the law governing drugs in Indonesia,' said Denis in his defense during the trial.
He claimed that based on his visits to Saudi Arabia, Singapore and China, all foreigners are informed about the death penalty for drugs before landing in the country.
' Rendi A. Witular
