NTB Police: Handling Drug TPPUs Apart From Waiting For The Supreme Court's Cassation Decision

Ni Nyoman Juliandari alias Mandari hugged her husband, I Gede Bayu Pratama, after listening to the acquittal for drug trafficking cases. BETWEEN/Dhimas BP

West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Regional Police said the handling of the drug laundering crime (TPPU) with the defendant Ni Nyoman Juliandari alias Mandari was waiting for the cassation decision from the Supreme Court.

"If there is an cassation decision, then we can make a decision," said Director of Drug Investigation of the West Nusa Tenggara Regional Police, Police Commissioner Deddy Supriadi in Mataram, NTB, Thursday, February 23, as reported by Antara.

If the cassation decision strengthens the court's decision at the first instance, he said, his party will not be able to continue the investigation of drug money laundering offenses against Mandari, who is suspected of acting as a big-name methamphetamine dealer from Mataram City.

"Because the original crime was not proven, so TPPU could not be continued," he said.

In this money laundering offense investigation, his party is still collecting data on all of Mandari's assets.

The data collection on Mandari's assets, he said, relates to allegations of the proceeds from the shabu-shabu drug trafficking business. The assets are in the form of movable and immovable assets, such as land and buildings.

Until now, his party has not been able to determine the value of Mandari's assets. However, in this investigation, his party has pocketed the results of the search for the Center for Financial Analysis and Transaction Reports (PPATK).

According to da, PPATK's search results have found routine transactions with a figure of up to billions of rupiah. It is strongly suspected that the transaction worth billions of rupiah is related to the narcotics business run by Mandari.

The police's move to handle the Mandari money laundering case began with the arrest of two men suspected of being their subordinates in Abian Body, Mataram City.

Mandari is indicated as controlling the methamphetamine business in Mataram City and was arrested with her husband, Bayu, while in a five-star hotel in Kuta, Central Lombok Regency.

From the original criminal case, the panel of judges at the Mataram District Court led by Sri Sulastri with members Catur Bayu Sulistyo and Agung Prasetyo has sentenced Mandari and her husband to acquittal on November 3, 2022.

The judge stated that the two defendants were not found guilty. The indictment refers to Article 112 paragraph (1) and/or Article 114 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 132 paragraph (1) of Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics.

The indictment stated the involvement of Mandari and her husband in the conspiracy to promote drug trafficking in the network of Gede Wijaya Sandi, Ratu Agus Ngurah Alit, Ratu Agus Ngurah Rai, and Agung Saputra who are already inmates for narcotics cases.

The judge also assured that the verdict was acquitted of the two defendants based on the facts revealed at the trial. one of them relates to a linguist's statement that analyzes conversation communication in the WhatsApp Group (WAG) application named Akatsuke.

In the social media group application that revealed the existence of Mandari's contact number with her husband. The expert witness before the panel of judges stated that he could not find any conversations related to drug transactions.