Judge hands down 19.5-year sentence on woman who hid 60,000 tablets inside water heaters

An Indonesian woman caught conspiring to traffic Ecstasy pills worth up to $21 million was sentenced yesterday to 19.5 years' jail - the highest penalty for an offender importing the drug.

Suen Yung-yung, 39, had earlier been convicted with co-accused Kusnadi Ridwan, 42, of importing 9.75kg of the drug - more than 60,000 tablets - concealed in water heaters flown in from Jakarta. In sentencing Suen, also known as Yuyun Sunjaya, Deputy Judge Bernard Whaley said her case did not warrant a departure from the sentencing guidelines for Ecstasy set down in a 1998 case.

Earlier this week, the Court of First Instance was told the Government might consider asking the Court of Appeal to revise sentencing guidelines pending the outcome of yesterday's sentencing of Suen, who had pleaded not guilty, and Ridwan.

But Deputy Judge Whaley said yesterday he found 'no factors in the present case which justify a departure from the guidelines'.

'The guidelines which have been provided by the Court of Appeal are not intended to be a strait-jacket and, when the circumstances warrant, they should be departed from.'

In 1998, the Court of Appeal laid down sentencing guidelines for Ecstasy after ruling the drug was not addictive, toxic or a serious threat to society. Offences involving 800 grams or more of the drug carry a sentencing range of between eight years and life.