Indonesia | Four Couriers with 40 Kgs of Crystal Meth Gets Death Sentence in Medan

TEMPO.CO, Medan - The Medan district court sentenced four people to death for carrying 40 kilograms of crystal meth.

"The court sentences the four defendants to death penalty," said sitting judge Phillip Mark Soentpiet at the Medan District Court, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.

The four defendants are Benyamin Sembiring (39) and Senta Sitepu (40), both residents of Namotualang Village, Sibiru-biru District, Deliserdang Regency; Puji Minarto Nasution (40), a resident of Jalan Kelambir 5, Medanhelvetia District, Medan City; and Sahrial (36), a resident of Dusun 1, Desa Seiapungjaya, Tanjungbalai District, Asahan Regency.

The judges found that the four drug couriers violated Article 114 paragraph (2) of the Narcotics Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.

The court recognized no mitigating factors that would have played a part in a lighter sentence for the couriers. Meanwhile, the defendants' actions were declared unsupportive of the government's anti-drug program as well as causing public concern, which contributed to the aggravating factors for the sentence.

After reading the verdict, the judges gave the defendants and the public prosecutor a week to respond to the verdict. "Please state your position, whether to file an appeal or accept the verdict," said Phillip.

Public prosecutor Friska Sianipar immediately conceded to the death penalty, as it aligned with her demands. Previously, she demanded the maximum sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty for the four defendants under Article 114 paragraph (2) and Article 112 paragraph (2) of the Narcotics Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code. "Each is sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty," said Friska.

The four defendants were arrested by the North Sumatra police on October 14, 2024. Two days before the arrest, a man named Koher, who is currently on the Wanted List, contacted the defendant Puji to pick up the crystal meth from Tanjungbalai City. The defendants then rented a car and left with the defendant Sahrial.

Upon arrival in Tanjungbalai, the two defendants met three men sent by Koher. They handed over two sacks containing 40 packets of crystal meth. After the handover, Puji and Sahrial returned to Medan City. The next day, on October 13, 2024, they were instructed by Koher to deliver one sack containing 20 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine to the defendant Benyamin in Sibiru-biru District.

"Another sack was instructed by Koher to be delivered to Cemara Asri. It was during this delivery that the defendants' car was chased by the police. Puji and Sahrial were arrested and admitted to having delivered 20 kilograms to the defendant Benyamin Sembiring," said the prosecutor.

Police then arrested Benyamin Sembiring, who confessed to having handed over the crystal methamphetamine to the defendant Senta Sitepu. The defendant was caught storing 20 kilograms of crystal meth in the kitchen.

Source: tempo.co, Staff, June 26, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Oklahoma executes James Pavatt

Pavatt claimed innocence in the slaying of an Oklahoma City advertising executive for insurance money. His co-defendant and former lover Brenda Andrew is also on death row. James Pavatt made no final statement before being executed Thursday for killing his lover’s estranged husband nearly 25 years ago. Pavatt merely shook his head when asked by Oklahoma Department of Corrections Chief of Operations Jason Sparks if he had any last words. Pavatt appeared to share a quick word with Michael Scott, his spiritual advisor, after microphones inside the death chamber had been cut off.

Oklahoma Death Row inmate James Pavatt scheduled to be executed Thursday

James Pavatt is scheduled to be executed on Thursday for the 2001 killing of an Oklahoma City man. OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma Death Row inmate James Pavatt is set to be executed for the 2001 murder of advertising executive Rob Andrew. His execution is scheduled for Nov. 12, 2026. In 2004, Pavatt and his lover/co-conspirator, Brenda Andrew, were sentenced to death for planning the killing of her estranged husband in an attempt to claim his $800,000 life insurance policy. Brenda is the only woman on Oklahoma’s death row.

Judge allows Tennessee death row inmates to include botched executions in lawsuit

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Two failed executions in Tennessee are now at the center of a growing legal battle over the state’s lethal injection protocol after a judge ruled in favor of death row inmates Friday. A Davidson County judge ruled death row inmates can expand their lawsuit to include new allegations stemming from the botched executions of Tony Carruthers and Christa Pike. The original lawsuit, filed in March 2025, argues Tennessee’s death penalty protocol violates the constitutional rights of death row inmates with complex medical conditions. More than one year later, the state then failed to execute two inmates: Tony Carruthers and Christa Pike.

Two men set to be executed in Texas and Oklahoma today

The U.S. was preparing to carry out two executions on Thursday, one in Oklahoma and one in Texas. In Texas, the condemned man is John Allen Rubio, 46, who is set to be put to death at the state prison in Huntsville. He was convicted of beheading three young children he was raising in a 2003 killing that rattled a community along the U.S.-Mexico border. The other man facing execution is James Pavatt, 73, who is set to die by lethal injection at Oklahoma's state penitentiary in McAlester.

Texas executes John Rubio

Texas man who killed 3 children is put to death, hours after an Oklahoma execution James Pavatt was put to death in Oklahoma for Rob Andrew’s killing. In Texas, John Allen Rubio was executed for the deaths of Julissa Quesada, John E. Rubio, and Mary Jane Rubio. A Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing and beheading 3 young children in a squalid, windowless apartment in 2003 was executed Thursday evening, hours after Oklahoma put another man to death.

Why Many Americans Think Christa Pike Should Undergo a Second Execution Attempt

On October 20, Reuters released the results of a survey showing that 33% of the American public want Tennessee to try again to put Christa Pike to death. Another 26% are undecided. That means 59% of the public would support or be open to such a possibility. I want to suggest a reason why. Second execution attempts are rare in this country and, as a result, the public knows little if anything about them. That may help explain why so many would give Tennessee another chance to kill Christa Pike.

Iran executes three more January protesters accused of spying for Israel, US

In a statement, the judiciary said that “the death sentences of Hassan Deoband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zangana were carried out on charges of ‘participating in operational action for the infamous Zionist regime and the United States and hostile groups.’” ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran on Sunday executed three more protesters over their involvement in the nationwide demonstrations in January, the judiciary announced, accusing them of spying for the United States and Israel and destroying infrastructure.

Alabama executes Michael Shannon Taylor

Alabama executes man convicted of 1991 double murder The state of Alabama carried out the execution of 54-year-old Michael Shannon Taylor Thursday night for the 1991 murders of an elderly Etowah County couple, 35 years and 1 day after the crime. Taylor, convicted in 1993 on 3 counts of capital murder, was sentenced to death unanimously by a jury for killing 83-year-old Ivan Ernest Moore and 79-year-old Lucille Moore inside their Gadsden home during a robbery. Taylor was 19 at the time.

Iran | 10 executed in Ahvaz, Isfahan, Karaj

Four prisoners, including an Afghan national, were executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. All four had been sentenced to death under Iran’s qisas (retributive justice) laws on murder charges. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, one of the executed prisoners was identified as Gol Agha Eskandari, an Afghan national. Eskandari had been convicted of murder following a dispute between neighbors in the Khorasan Square area of Tehran in July 2024 and subsequently sentenced to death.

Florida executes Jesse Guardado

Man convicted of 2004 killing is put to death in Florida’s 19th execution this year, tying a record Florida carried out a record-tying 19th execution of the year in an unusual instance of 3 states administering the death penalty on the same day. Jesse Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at a state prison in Starke. He had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 75-year-old Jackie Malone inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80, and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog