Denpasar Bali, Indonesia (REUTERS/AP/DT) — Indonesian authorities said Tuesday that they have arrested six people on drug charges on the tourist island of Bali since July.
Four could face execution under the country’s strict drug laws.
Two Thai nationals, Rachanon Jongseeha, 33, and his girlfriend Woranawan Wongsuwan, 31, were arrested upon arrival at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport on Sept. 8, with 1.9 kilograms (4.1 pounds) of methamphetamines mixed with ecstasy powder packed in 108 sachets of a fruit-flavored collagen drink, and 20 pills of the party drug ecstasy, according to provincial anti-narcotics chief Rudy Ahmad Sudrajat.
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One of the Indonesian nationals was arrested at the same airport on Sept 8, while a courier, whose nationality was not given, was also arrested.
All four face the death penalty if found guilty, Mr Rudy said.
Police also arrested two Europeans in July – a Latvian man and a Swedish man.
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.
All four could face execution by firing squad if charged and found guilty, Sudrajat said. In Nov. 2019, a court in Bali sentenced two Thais to 16-year prison terms for smuggling 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of methamphetamine.
Sudrajat said a Latvian man, identified by the initials VS, was arrested at the airport on July 4 carrying 450.41 grams (15.8 ounces) of hashish and 977.83 grams (34.5 ounces) of marijuana concealed in his suitcase.
Sudrajat said VS had a tattoo indicating affiliation with organized crime groups in the former Soviet Union.
A Swedish man identified by the initials SUE was captured on July 31 when police raided his villa in Gianyar, a popular tourist spot, and seized 201.28 grams (7 ounces) of hashish, following a tip that SUE had received a suspicious package by mail from Thailand, Sudrajat said. He faces up to 15 years on charges of possession.
Indonesia has dozens of convicted drug smugglers on death row. Its last executions were carried out in July 2016, when an Indonesian and three foreigners were shot by firing squad.
In May 2019, a French citizen was sentenced to death on Lombok, an island next to Bali, for smuggling 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of ecstasy before a higher court commuted his sentence to 19 years in prison.