Turkish Citizen Who Carried Drugs To Bali Sentenced To 5.5 Years In Prison

Defendant Huseyin Vural (23), a foreign national from Turkey attended a verdict hearing at the Denpasar District Court, Bali, Tuesday (13/8/2024) in the case of possession of drug class I. ANTARA/Rolandus Nampu

The panel of judges at the Denpasar District Court, Bali, Tuesday sentenced the defendant Huseyin Vural (23), a foreign national (WNA) from Turkey, to 5 years and 6 months in prison for being proven to have brought narcotics class I.

In its ruling, the Panel of Judges led by I Gusti Ayu Akhiryani stated that the defendant was legally and convincingly proven to have or controlled Narcotics Category I in the form of non-plants weighing 50.89 grams net.

The judge assessed that the defendant, who is still a student, brought narcotics without permission from the authorities and not for the sake of developing science as regulated and threatened with crime in Article 112 paragraph (2) of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics, according to the indictment of the two Public Prosecutors (JPU) Ni Putu Evy Widhiarini.

"The trial, sentenced the defendant Huseyin Vural to imprisonment for 5 years and 6 months reduced while the defendant was detained, with the defendant's order still being detained," said the panel of judges as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, August 13.

In addition to corporal punishment, the defendant is also required to pay a fine of Rp. 1 billion. If the defendant cannot pay, then he will be sentenced to 6 months in prison.

The verdict of the panel of judges was 3 years lighter than what the prosecutor had demanded. The prosecutor previously charged the defendant with imprisonment of 8 years and 6 months with a fine of Rp. 1 billion, subsidiary of 8 months.

After hearing the reading of the court's decision, the Public Prosecutor and the defendant through their legal advisor Teddy Raharjdo stated that they were still thinking about it.

Met after the trial was over, Teddy Raharjdo expressed his objection to the decision and filed an appeal. He considered his client not to know in Indonesia, narcotics were prohibited from using it. He said his client only used drugs in the form of candy as sleeping medicine.

According to him, the panel of judges did not consider using candy for themselves and did not separate the weight of narcotics from other materials such as sugar and flour.

Previously, the prosecutor's indictment revealed that the case began on Wednesday (24/1) at around 19.30 WITA, when the defendant Huseyin Vural arrived at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport from Bangkok, Thailand.

During an inspection at the Custom Area of the International Arrival Terminal at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Customs officers found something suspicious in the defendant's backpack bag.

After the bag was opened, officers found a plastic package containing a soft red and green solid suspected of containing narcotics.

During interrogation, Huseyin Vural admitted to buying the narcotics from a shop in Khaosan Road, Bangkok, on January 23, 2024. The defendant also admitted that he had often consumed the narcotics for 2 months living in Thailand.

The form of drugs resembled jelly candy, and the defendant took the illicit goods to Bali during a holiday visit. At that time the defendant did not know that drugs in Indonesia were illegal and he admitted it was sleeping medicine.

The evidence in the form of plastic packages containing red and green soft solids weighing 50.89 grams net was then examined further at the Denpasar Branch Police Forensic Laboratory.

The results confirm that the candy contains delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol, Cannabigerol, and Cannabinol, which are registered in Category I narcotics under the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 35 of 2009.