Drug lord gets death
JAKARTA: An Indonesian court late yesterday sentenced a Hong Kong drug lord to death for smuggling 860 kg crystal methamphetamine into Indonesia earlier this year. Wong Chi-ping was caught with several others in January as they coordinated the trafficking of the drugs from Malaysia into Indonesia. Indonesian authorities had been monitoring Wong, believed to be the kingpin behind the deal, for three years and said that he was part of a major global drug ring. “Indonesia must fight drugs wholeheartedly and one way to do that is by giving strong punishments,” said presiding judge M Arifin as he delivered the death sentence in the West Jakarta court. Indonesia enforces some of the world’s toughest anti-drugs laws and has been stepping up its campaign against narcotics under President Joko Widodo, who is a strong supporter of capital punishment for traffickers. Widodo has accelerated the death penalty campaign — so far 14 drug convicts have been executed during his presidency, 12 of them foreigners.