3 British citizens face the death penalty for allegedly smuggling cocaine to Bali island

Three British citizens accused of smuggling were accused of more than two pounds of cocaine to Indonesia on Tuesday in a court on Bali Tourist Island. They face the death penalty under strict drug laws in the country.

Administrative smugglers convicted in Indonesia are sometimes implemented firing squad.

The prosecutor said that customs officers arrested Jonathan Christopher Coller, 28, and Leen Elien Stowker, 29, on February 1 after customs officers arrested them in the X -ray machine after finding suspicious things in their flying luggage as food packages.

Ombara told Dinpasar the local court that a laboratory test result confirmed that ten bags of crushed desserts are in a choleir luggage with seven similar bags in a partner bag containing 2.19 pounds of cocaine, worth $ 368,000.

Two days later, the authorities arrested Phineas Ambrose Float, 31 after a handover of control established by the police, as the other two suspects handed over the medicine to him in the parking area at a hotel in Denpasar. It is tried separately.

Ombara said that drugs were brought from England to Indonesia with a crossing at Doha International Airport in Qatar.

Bonco Endrio, deputy director of the Balai Police Unit, said at a press conference in Denbasar on February 7,

After reading the charges against the Three Group, a committee of three judges has postponed the trial until June 10, when the court hears the testimony of witnesses.

Both the defendants and their lawyers refused to comment on the media after the trial. Talk to the BBC In February, their lawyer, Cheney Banglajla, said, if convicted, each of them could face between 15-20 years in an Indonesian prison or the death penalty.

The British embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond to a request to Agence France Presse for comment.

Data of the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections showed about 530 people, including 96 foreigners, in Indonesia, most of them for drug -related crimes. The latest executions were carried out in Indonesia, from an Indonesian and three foreigners, in July 2016.

A British woman, Lindsey Sandford, who is now 69 years old, has been in execution in Indonesia for more than a decade. She was arrested in 2012 when 8.4 pounds of cocaine were discovered stuffed inside the lining of their luggage at Bali Airport. The highest court in Indonesia has uplook the death penalty in Sindford in 2013.

The United Nations on Drugs and Crime says that Indonesia is a main center for drug therapy despite the presence of some of the strongest strongest drugs in the world, partly due to the fact that international drug coins are targeting its young residents.

The administration of the Indonesian President Prabu Sobanto has moved in recent months to return many prominent prisoners, all of whom have been sentenced to drug crimes, to their countries of origin.

French Serge Atlwi returned to France in February after Jakarta and Paris agreed to a deal to return him to “human reasons” because he was sick.

In December, I took Indonesia Mary Jin Veloso Being death and returning it to the Philippines.

He also sent the five remaining members in “Bali nine” The drug ring, who were serving heavy prison sentences, to Australia.

According to the Ministry of Immigration and corrections in Indonesia, 96 foreigners were in the case of death, all of them charged with drugs, before Veloso was released.

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, a former British flight host, Charlotte LeeCharges that they have more than 100 pounds of artificial hemp in their bags. You can face life imprisonment if convicted.

Agence France-Press contributed to this report.