The sentence was lighter than the death sentence that prosecutors had sought.

The panel of three judges found Teddy guilty of orchestrating a scheme to steal 5 kilograms of methamphetamine from a store of confiscated drugs at the Bukittinggi Police headquarters in West Sumatra and to sell the supply to dealers in Jakarta in May of last year. At the time, Teddy was the chief of the West Sumatra Police.

The case surfaced in October of last year after lawmakers revealed to the press that Teddy, who was at the time the incoming chief of the East Java Police, had been arrested on charges relating to a drug case. The news came at a time of diminished public trust in the police following a high-profile murder case involving another police general.

The court said on Tuesday that Teddy had instructed his subordinate, mid-ranking officer Dody Prawiranegara, to swap 10 kg of methamphetamine in police storage with alum –  a chemical compound that has a similar appearance to the class-1 drug – as part of a plot to sell the confiscated supply on the street.

Dody initially refused, according to the court, but later relented, agreeing to sell only 5 kg of meth. He also enlisted the help of his own assistant, Syamsul Maarif, to replace the stolen drugs with alum.

Teddy then connected Dody to his longtime acquaintance, Linda Pudjiastuti, also known as Anita Cepu, who, in turn, paid Dody Rp 300 million (US$20,320) for the 5 kg of meth and later sold it to drug dealers in Jakarta. At her own trial, held previously, Linda claimed that she and Teddy had had a sexual affair.

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Presiding judge Jon Sarman Saragih pointed to "Teddy’s convoluted statements, the fact that he never admitted to his crime" and that "he had enjoyed the profits from the illegal drug transaction despite being a high-ranking police officer", as aggravating factors.

But he also cited the fact that Teddy had a decorated, three-decade career in the force, during which time he had not been accused of any violations, as factors that warranted a lighter punishment than what prosecutors had sought.

Teddy’s lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said after the hearing that the defense would still file an appeal against Teddy’s life sentence.

“[The legal team] has just been told [to file] an appeal, particularly since the judges’ reasoning was as an exact copy of the prosecutor's indictment,” Hotman said, as quoted by kompas.com.

The court is scheduled to deliver its verdicts in the trials of Dody and Linda on Wednesday, for whom prosecutors are seeking 20 and 18 years in prison, respectively.

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Teddy is the second two-star police general this year to have been tried for a high-profile crime, following former National Police internal affairs chief Ferdy Sambo’s trial for murder. In February, Ferdy was found guilty of the premeditated murder of his own aide-de-camp, Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, a police brigadier, and of tampering with evidence to orchestrate a cover-up. He was sentenced to death.

Ferdy’s case, regarded as the biggest scandal to involve the police in recent memory, occurred only months before Teddy’s case was brought to light. The two cases caused public trust in the police force to plummet.