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tate prosecutors in Lhoksukon, North Aceh regency, Aceh, have demanded that a panel of judges at the Lhoksukon District Court sentence a family of three and their accomplice with capital punishment for allegedly smuggling 14.4 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from Malaysia to Indonesia.

In four separate hearings on Monday, prosecutors from the Lhoksukon Prosecutor'€™s Office (Kejari) asked the panel of judges to hand down the death penalty for 20-year-old Muzakir, Muzakir'€™s father Ramli, 49, Muzakir'€™s stepmother Nani Andriani, 39, and Herman, 48, another defendant, for violating articles 114 (2) and 132 (1) of the 2009 Narcotics Law.

The four defendants were allegedly caught red-handed on Feb. 14 transporting 14.4 kilograms of crystal meth in Ceumpedak subdistrict, Tanah Jambo Aye district, North Aceh, in a minivan. The group had smuggled the drugs from Malaysia to the regency by boat.

Kejari head Teuku Rahmatsyah said that during the trial, prosecutors had found no mitigating factors that could help the four defendants to receive more lenient punishment.

'€œThe primary charge [for the defendants] has also been met and proven. That'€™s why we asked [the judges] to give them the maximum punishment, which is the death penalty. This is the first drug-related case in North Aceh in which the prosecutors sought capital punishment for the defendants,'€ he told national radio station Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI).

The Monday hearings, held consecutively from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., were heavily guarded by personnel from the North Aceh Police.

During the hearings, for example, every entrance to the court chamber was guarded by two armed police personnel while a number of policewomen were deployed to oversee the court'€™s holding room, where the defendants waited for their hearings, tribunnews.com reported.

Speaking after his hearing, Muzakir said he felt disappointed with the prosecutors'€™ demand.

'€œMy hope has faded away. I no longer have any hope although my lawyer is currently preparing a defense plea for the next hearing,'€ he said.

The defendants are scheduled to deliver their defense pleas on July 30.

Herman'€™s lawyer Abdul Aziz said his client would deliver a written defense plea at his next hearing.

On May 28, another North Aceh resident, 22-year-old Furqon Yanuar, was sentenced to death by the Stabat District Court in Langkat, North Sumatra, for trafficking 2.8 kilograms of crystal meth. The panel of judges said that the defendant was proven guilty of trafficking drugs intended for sale, which was against the Narcotics Law.

Furqon, a motorcycle mechanic in Langkat, was arrested during a raid on the bus that he was traveling on from Lhokseumawe to Medan in October last year.

He said he did not know the contents of a bag he was carrying, which belonged to his uncle in Bireun.

Earlier this year, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) revealed that rampant drug distribution in the country was ensnaring ever more addicts, the number of which currently amounts to 5.6 million. Whereas in 2011, according to the BNN, there were only 4 million people, or 2.2 percent of the total population, who used drugs.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, who was inaugurated in October last year, has repeatedly pledged to combat drug abuse. He has also said he will not grant clemency to drug traffickers on death row.

Defying intense pressure from the international community, the government executed 14 convicted drug traffickers, including two Australians and two Brazilians, during the first four months of this year.

The President, however, has instructed law enforcers to treat drug users differently, by ordering state institutions, including the National Police, to give protection, education and rehabilitation to drug users.