Indonesian authorities on the tourist island of Bali on Thursday announced the arrests of several foreign nationals, including an Australian, an Indian, and an American, on suspicion of possessing narcotics, charges that could carry the death penalty. Customs officers at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport arrested an Indian national with the initials HV, who was carrying a duffel bag, in the customs and excise inspection area on May 29. The officers found narcotic-related items in his belongings, authorities said. Following up on the interrogation of HV, later that day, officers from the National Narcotics Agency of Bali Province arrested an Australian man with the initials PR, who has been visiting Bali since 1988. PR asked HV to bring the duffel bag from Los Angeles to Bali, said I Made Sinar Subawa, an official from the narcotics agency, at a news conference. During a search at a house where he stayed, officers found some narcotics in the form of hashish, a cannabis concentrate product, that belonged to PR and had been purchased over the Telegram messaging app. The hashish was shipped from Los Angeles and Philippines before finally received in Bali, Subawa said. Officers seized 191 grams (6.7 ounces) of hashish along with some candies consisting of tetrahydrocannabinol, and 488 grams (17.2 ounces) of marijuana. Both PR and HV are now suspected of dealing in narcotics, based on the evidence that was found with them, Subawa said. “PR is suspected of violating Indonesia’s Narcotics Law which carries the death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for a minimum of four years and a maximum of 12 years,” said Subawa. Along with HV and PR, the agency also arrested WM, an American, on May 23 while he was collecting a package from a post office in Bali. An officer opened the package carried by WM and found seven pieces of silver packaging containing a total of 99 orange amphetamine pills and secured one white Apple iPhone brand cellphone. The agency, at a news conference in the city of Denpasar on Thursday presented the evidence, including marijuana and hashish, seized from the suspects. All suspects will undergo legal proceedings in Indonesia, including trial and sentencing. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population. The Southeast Asian country has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted smugglers can face severe penalties, including the possibility of execution by firing squad. On Tuesday, three British nationals accused of smuggling nearly a kilogram (over two pounds) of cocaine into Indonesia were charged Tuesday in a court on Bali, while on May 27, an Australian man was arrested on suspicion of smuggling cocaine. If convicted, any or all of them could face the death penalty. About 530 people, including 96 foreigners, are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, latest figures from the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections show. Indonesia’s last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
