Four arrested in Bali over drugs face death penalty

DENPASAR, Bali: Four people arrested recently on drug charges on the Indonesian resort island of Bali face the death penalty, its anti-drugs chief said on Tuesday (Sep 17).
Officers arrested two Thai nationals at the island’s international airport on Sep 3 for possession of methamphetamine, ecstasy and crystal MDMA, Bali narcotics agency head Rudy Ahmad Sudrajat told reporters.
“The drugs would be handed over to two Indonesians who ordered it,” he said.
One of the Indonesian nationals was arrested at the same airport on Sep 8 while a courier, whose nationality was not given, was also arrested.
All four face the death penalty if found guilty, Sudrajat said.
Police also arrested two Europeans – a Latvian man and a Swedish man – in July.
The Latvian man – suspected of belonging to a crime syndicate in his country – faces up to 20 years in prison after being caught with 450g of hashish and 977g of marijuana.
The Swedish suspect faces up to 15 years in prison after being found with 201g of hashish at his villa.
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 and a Philippine woman accused of smuggling heroin.
Police raided a suspected drug lab on the island in May, arresting two Ukrainians, a Russian and an Indonesian who all face the death penalty, accused of operating a hydroponic marijuana and mephedrone manufacturing laboratory.
That same month, police said an Australian man faced up to 20 years in prison on the resort island and a fine of more than US$600,000 for allegedly attempting to sell crystal meth. He was sentenced to six months in drug rehabilitation in July.
Indonesia last carried out executions in 2016, killing one Indonesian and three Nigerian drug convicts by firing squad.