REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SEMARANG -- The Semarang district court sentenced a 22-year-old Thai national to 17 years' imprisonment on Monday for smuggling 1.16 kilograms of crystal meth via the city's Ahmad Yani Airport. The court also fined the Thai national, identified as Walaiwan Boonyiam, Rp1 billion or another six months in jail.

The sentence read out by Aloysius Priharnoto Bayu Aji, who presided over the panel of judges, was two years lesser than the public prosecutors had sought earlier. Aji remarked that the defendant was proven guilty of being a go-between in the drugs deal in breach of article 114 of Law No. 35 of 2009 on narcotics.

The panel of judges opined that the defendant's misdeeds threatened the future of Indonesia's younger generations, he stated.

"The defendant has committed an international crime, with a high level of modus operandi, supported by international networks," he noted.

Both the public prosecutors and defendant are still considering the verdict.

The airport's customs officers arrested the Thai national on August 1, 2018, on charges of carrying 1.1 kilograms of crystal meth. He was arrested shortly after disembarking a Silk Air plane from Singapore.

The customs officers made the arrest after they became suspicious of the suspect's conduct. They later checked the suspect's belongings and found the contraband wrapped in a plastic bag.

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