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Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws, including the death penalty for traffickers.
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Two people from Brazil and South Africa have been charged in Indonesia for allegedly trying to smuggle four kilograms (8.8 pounds) of drugs into Bali, the anti-narcotics agency said Thursday.
The pair were travelling separately when they were arrested on 13 July at the resort island’s international airport and could face the death penalty if found guilty.
The Brazilian man was allegedly carrying two plastic bags containing just over three kilograms of cocaine in his backpack and luggage, I Made Sinar Subawa, from the local anti-narcotics agency, told a news conference.
ALSO READ: Child of South African drug mule in Mauritius prison to return home
Made said the suspect was a courier and had been told to deliver the package to a man living in Bali.
The South African woman was arrested after arriving from Singapore on the same day with nearly one kilogram of crystal methamphetamine allegedly hidden in her clothing.
“Based on the interrogation, she confessed that she was ordered to carry the meth from Johannesburg to Bali, to be delivered to someone in Bali,” Made said.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, including the death penalty for traffickers.
There are dozens of traffickers on death row in the country, including a cocaine-smuggling British grandmother.
ALSO READ: OR Tambo International now a hub for drug mules — expert
Indonesia last carried out executions in 2016, killing one Indonesian and three Nigerian drug convicts by firing squad.
Drug smuggling cases
This is not the first case of South African women being arrested in foreign countries for drug smuggling.
Mauritius has seen multiple arrests of South African women involved in drug trafficking.
A South African woman was arrested after allegedly being caught with drugs with an estimated value of Rs 8 million (just over R3.3 million) at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport in Mauritius on 17 September 2019.
ALSO READ: Cocaine on a plane at OR Tambo – again: Drug mule nabbed with 33 ‘bullets’
Mauritius’ Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (ADSU) in collaboration with the officers of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section of the MRA intercepted the woman coming from Reunion after being alerted of the “suspicious behaviour” of the woman.
The woman, 34-year-old Nokuphila Mtshali, from KwaZulu-Natal, reportedly introduced herself as a businesswoman who would be on the island for five days.
The officials searched her and found three plastic-wrapped bundles in her private parts containing 528 grams of heroin.
The woman reportedly cooperated with the officials, who arranged a fake delivery with fake drugs in an attempt to find her accomplices, reported Mauritius’ lexpress.mu.
The fake delivery led to the arrest of two Nigerian men, Ndubuisi Samuel Ebielonwu, 33, and Eze Collins, 31, and police confiscated an iPhone and cash in rands, Mauritian rupees, US dollar and naira.
The woman was reportedly promised R40,000 for a successful delivery.
ALSO READ: SA woman arrested for ‘drugs in vagina’ for two Nigerians in Mauritius
A year before, 30-year-old Thami Nomathamsanqa Dyasi was allegedly caught with pellets of heroin weighing more than 1.25kg concealed in her private parts and stomach, according to Mauritian reports.
Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde
