A panel of judges at the South Jakarta District court handed down the death penalty on Thursday to three Taiwanese standing trial for their roles in smuggling crystal methamphetamine in July last year.
The three were identified as Liao Guan Yu, Chen Wei Cyuan and Hsu Yung Li.
“The defendants have been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” presiding judge Efendi Mukhtar read out the verdict.
While there was no mitigating factor to hand down a lighter sentence, the judge said the crime had contravened government efforts to fight illegal drugs and could harm the country’s future generations.
According to a statement in the previous hearing, the three men were waiting in Anyer Beach in the province of Banten for the five other suspects to offload the amphetamines from a Taiwanese yacht. The police said the drugs weighed 1 metric ton and were worth Rp 2 trillion (US$143.9 million).
The three remained silent when a translator delivered the judge’s verdict.
