Indonesia's former West Sumatra police chief Teddy Minahasa Putra (left) attending the court hearing in Jakarta on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. A high-ranking Indonesian police officer was given a life sentence on May 9 for trafficking five kilograms of methamphetamine that was originally confiscated as criminal evidence. - AFP
JAKARTA, May 9, 2023 (AFP): A high-ranking Indonesian police officer was given a life sentence on Tuesday for trafficking five kilograms (11 pounds) of methamphetamine that was originally confiscated as criminal evidence.
A court in Jakarta found Teddy Minahasa Putra guilty of ordering his subordinate to swap the seized methamphetamine with potassium alum in a plot to illicitly sell drugs.
Putra, who was previously the police chief for West Sumatra province, then trafficked the methamphetamine through a civilian intermediary, the court heard.
Putra's lawyer told reporters outside the court that an appeal would be filed, local media reported.
Prosecutors had sought a death sentence for Putra, but the judge found his 30-year service on the police force as a mitigating factor.
Putra will instead remain behind bars until his death.
Indonesia has some of the world's toughest anti-narcotics laws, including the death penalty for drug traffickers.
The country handed out at least 114 death sentences in 2021, with 82 percent of those given for drug-related offences, according to an Amnesty International report. - AFP
