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Govt should re-investigate old case in probing Freddy’s claim: Kontras
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Staying firm -- Legal Aid institute (LBH) Masyarakat lawyer Ricky Gunawan (left), Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar (second left), University of Indonesia police affairs observer Bambang Widodo Umar (second right) and Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) chairman Alvon Kurnia Palma call on the government to reinvestigate old cases related to executed drug convict Freddy Budiman in a press conference on Friday. (thejakartapost.com/Winda Ayu Charmila)
T
he Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has called on the government to investigate an old drug trafficking case in its effort to reveal the truth behind drug lord Freddy Budiman’s claim that security personnel were involved in his drug network.
Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar explained in a press conference on Friday that the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) arrested Muhamad Muhtar for helping Freddy smuggle 1.4 million ecstasy pills in 2012. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013 and ordered to pay Rp 2 billion (US$152,000) in fines.
“Based on Muhtar’s verdict, he was arrested while transporting packages of drugs by container truck from Tanjung Priok Port to Cengkareng, West Jakarta,” Haris said.
He further said that before Muhtar’s cargo was released from the port, both BNN and customs officials should have examined the contents of his container. BNN officials should also have arrested him only after he arrived at his delivery destination to find out who received the drug packages.
Thus, it seemed to Haris that the BNN officials had wanted Muhtar’s cargo released from the port. There was also a sense that the BNN officials did not want to let Muhtar arrive at the delivery destination, through which security authorities could have discovered Freddy’s international drug network.
By reinvestigating Muhtar’s drug smuggling case, Kontras said information could be unearthed to prove the truth of Freddy’s claims, that high-ranking officers of the National Police, the Indonesian Military and the BNN were involved in his drug business. (wnd/ebf)
