Bali convict granted early release due to COVID-19 thrown back into prison for alleged marijuana trafficking attempt
A 29-year-old convict, identified as Ikhlas, was among those granted parole as part of Indonesia’s COVID-19 policy to avoid infections in overcrowded prisons earlier this month. Less than a week later, police arrested him for an alleged drug trafficking attempt in Denpasar.
Ikhlas was arrested yesterday along with another former convict, identified as Bayu Tama Pangestu, during which police also seized 2 kilograms of marijuana.
As reported by Kompas, Ikhlas was granted parole on April 2 from Kerobokan Prison, one of around 30,000 convicts across the country who have been released early to prevent a surge of coronavirus infections in Indonesia’s overcrowded prisons. This follows a regulation issued in late March by the Law and Human Rights Ministry, which stipulates that adult prisoners who have served two-thirds of their sentence are eligible for parole.
Meanwhile, Bayu had reportedly served his full sentence before the new regulation went into effect.
“It’s only Ikhlas who is on parole due to [the new regulation related to] coronavirus,” I Putu Surya Dharma, spokesman from the ministry’s regional office, said.
Police had reportedly intercepted the delivery of a drug package from Pekanbaru, Riau, and arrested the two suspects as they were about to retrieve the items from the courier service.
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