Indonesia: Banten court sentences British man to death

Banten High Court has sentenced British citizen Gareth Dane Cashmore with the death penalty after he was found guilty of smuggling 6.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine.

The panel of judges decided, on May 15, to annul the Tangerang District Court verdict sentencing him to lifetime imprisonment. A copy of the verdict was published on the Supreme Court’s website on Wednesday.

“Gareth Dane Cashmore is found guilty of violating the law by receiving narcotics of more than five milligrams,” presiding judge J. Nababan said. “We decided to sentence the defendant to death.”

The panel of judges said that the decision was based on considerations that the sentence of lifetime imprisonment imposed, by the district court, would not send a strong enough message.

In addition, the judges also took in to consideration that there were no mitigating factors uncovered during the trial that could lessen the defendant’s sentence, and that he was fully responsible for his actions.

“Narcotics are a very dangerous substance that harm the people and the nation. They destroy the human resources that are one of the integral elements to our national development,” the judge said.

The court also ordered that the 6.5-kilogram bag of crystal methamphetamine, one piece of red luggage, one Nokia cellular phone and one Samsung cellular phone, which belonged to the defendant, to be seized and destroyed.

The 33-year-old British man was arrested by customs and excise officers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Sept. 12 last year for smuggling the crystal methamphetamine, worth Rp 13 billion (US$ 1.3 million). The drugs were concealed inside his modified luggage.

It was alleged that Gareth was a member of an international narcotics syndicate who entered the capital by flying with Turkish Airlines by way of the Istanbul to Jakarta route.

Following the arrest, together with the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), the customs and excise officers attempted to apprehend the drugs couriers at a hotel in Jakarta, but to no avail.

According to customs and excise at Soekarno-Hatta, 38 smugglers were caught as couriers in 2011, with many organized narcotic smuggling gangs, which used to “employ” Asian and African nationals, now using couriers from Europe.

Source: The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, September 27 2012

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