A court in Jakarta on Tuesday sentenced a senior Indonesian police officer to life in prison for trafficking five kilos of methamphetamines seized by law enforcement.
Teddy Minahasa Putra, a former West Sumatran police chief who was awaiting a new assignment before his trial, was found guilty of ordering a subordinate to replace confiscated methamphetamine with potassium alum. He then traded drugs with the help of a civilian intermediary, according to court findings.
A tough legislative arsenal
The prosecution had requested the death sentence of Teddy Minahasa Putra, but the court considered his 30 years of service in the police as a mitigating circumstance and handed down a life sentence. The convict's lawyer said he would appeal, local media reported.
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Indonesia has one of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world, including the death penalty for traffickers. The Southeast Asian country has handed down at least 114 death sentences since 2021, 82% of which were drug-related, according to an Amnesty International report.
