KUALA LUMPUR: Prosecutors are seeking a 14-year jail term for popular 1990s actor Khaeryll Benjamin Ibrahim, better known as Benjy, for allegedly smuggling syabu into Indonesia in April.
The Jakarta Post reported that the hearing of the case against Khaeryll on Wednesday saw prosecutor Maria F. Tarigan also demanding that Khaeryll be levied a fine of Rp800 million (RM251,000) for violating the 2009 Law on Narcotics.
“We demand that the panel of judges jail the defendant for 14 years,” she said in a hearing presided over by Judge Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo, the paper reported.
After hearing the prosecutor’s demands, Khaeryll said he would read his defence statement at his hearing next week.
Khaeryll, the son of the late actress Azean Irdawaty, was arrested at Medan Kuala Namu International Airport by Indonesian Customs and Excise Department officers upon his arrival on April 18.
He was alleged to have attempted to smuggle in 4.5g of syabu by hiding it in his rectum.
Khaeryll has had a chequered history with narcotics. In 2010, he was arrested at an apartment in Kepong in connection with producing and supplying drugs.
In 2015, he was arrested twice in the span of one month, also on drug-related offences.