Chairul Fikri, Jakarta – Prosecutors on Thursday recommended the death sentence for disgraced police officer Insp. General Teddy Minahasa who is accused of stealing 5 kilograms of methamphetamine from the evidence locker and selling them for personal gains.

The sentencing demand came a month after a former police general, Ferdy Sambo was sentenced to death for murder.

Prosecutors recommended that Teddy be convicted under the tough anti-drug law which carries the death sentence for illicit sales and distributions of 5 grams or more of narcotic drugs.

"For those offenses, we demand that the defendant be sentenced to death and kept in detention [until the execution]," the West Jakarta District Court heard.

Teddy made headlines last year after he was dramatically detained shortly before he was supposed to be inaugurated as the East Java police chief, with police alleging him of stealing 5 kilograms of meth from the evidence locker of a district police office in West Sumatra, where he was the provincial police chief.

In order to avoid suspicions, Teddy had asked his men to replace the stolen meth with alums, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said there are no mitigating factors that could provide leniency in Teddy's case.

Earlier, they also recommended prison sentences between 17 and 20 years for four co-defendants including three policemen and a civilian woman for becoming complicit in the crime.

Celebrity lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, an attorney for Teddy, asked for more time to prepare the defense statement because of the seriousness of the situation facing his client and was approved by Presiding Judge Jon Sarman Saragih.

"I need two weeks to prepare the defense statement, Your Honor, in accordance with the situation facing the defendant in this case," Hotman said.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Hotman said his team will focus on "serious violations of the criminal procedures code" committed by police when they began implicating Teddy with drug trafficking.

He also argued that "not a single witness" saw the exchange of meth with alums as accused by prosecutors.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/prosecutors-demand-death-sentence-for-police-general-teddy-minahas