Burmese woman faces to life jail te

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Subject: Burmese woman faces to life jail term in Indonesia

Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1993 22:23:07 -0600
Sender: Southeast Asia Discussion List <SEASIA-L@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Burmese woman faces to life jail term in Indonesia

Subject: Burmese woman faces to life jail term in Indonesia
Keywords: international, illegal drugs, legal, non-usa government,
Location: indonesia, burma
ACategory: international

        JAKARTA (UPI) -- An Indonesian state prosecutor was seeking a life
sentence for a Burmese woman on trial for allegedly bringing more than
15 pounds (7 kg) of heroin into Indonesia, news reports said Thursday.
        State prosecutor Sukardji requested the life sentence in west Java's
Tanggerang district court Wednesday.
        The 25-year-old Rangoon woman, identified only by her initials, was
arrested by custom officials on Sept. 8 when she arrived from Bangkok at
Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta International Airport.
        The woman told the court that she did not know heroin was inside a
suitcase she received from a man in Bangkok's airport.
        Government authorities have said that Indonesian cities have become
popular with narcotics syndicates since neighboring Asian nations
provide harsher sentences for drug traffickers.
        However, in some cases, Indonesia permits the harshest of penalties
for drug smugglers such as the case involving a Thai national. Kamjai
Khong Thavorn, 35, was sentenced to death in east Kalimantan district
court early 1988 after he was convicted a year earlir of smuggling
almost 40 pounds (17.7 kg) of heroin, the largest quantity of the drug
ever seized in Indonesia.