DENPASAR: Indonesian authorities said they recently arrested a Brazilian man and a South African woman accused of smuggling cocaine, while a court sentenced two groups of foreigners to prison on drug charges.
The sentences were considered lenient as Indonesia typically hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling, including the death penalty.
A 25-year-old Brazilian man, identified by the initials YB, was arrested July 13 shortly after arriving from Dubai and charged with carrying 3,086 grams (6.8 pounds) of cocaine in his suitcase and backpack at Bali’s Ngurah Rai international airport, said Made Sinar Subawa, head of the Eradication Division at Bali’s Narcotic Agency.
The same day, customs officers seized 990 grams (2.1 pounds) of cocaine they say was being carried in the underwear of a 32-year-old South African woman, identified as LN, Subawa said.
In Denpasar District Court on Thursday, judges sentenced a group of three British nationals to one year in jail for drug offenses after a charge that could carry the death penalty was dropped.
