Three British nationals accused of smuggling more than two pounds of cocaine to Indonesia were charged in court on the Bali Tourism Island on Tuesday. They face death penalty under the country's strict drug laws.
Sometimes convicted drug smugglers in Indonesia are executed Shooting team.
Prosecutor I'm guilty Dipa Umbara said that after Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 28, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 29, were arrested on February 1, customs officers stopped on an X-ray machine after finding suspicious items in suitcases disguised as food packaging.
Umbara told Denpasar's district court that laboratory tests confirmed that in Collyer's luggage there were ten dessert mixtures from the desserts from his partner's suitcase, plus seven similar pouches in his companion's suitcase, which contained 2.19 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $368,000.
Two days later, authorities arrested Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, after police controlled delivery, two other suspects handed the drugs to his Dan Barça hotel parking lot. He is trying separately.
Umbala said the drugs were brought from England to Indonesia, transit at the Doha International Airport in Qatar.
The group successfully smuggled cocaine to Bali in the first two times before being attempted for the third time, Ponco Indriyo, deputy director of the Bali Police's Drug Department, said at a press conference in Denpasar on February 7.
After reading the allegations against the three panels, the three judges' panel was adjourned to the trial until June 10, the court will hear witness testimony.
After the trial, both the defendant and his attorney refused to comment to the media. Their lawyer, Sheiny Pangkahila, said in a February speech to the BBC that each of them could face 15-20 years in Indonesian prisons or death penalty.
The British Embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.
The Ministry of Immigration and Corrections shows that about 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mainly drug-related crimes. Indonesia's last execution was conducted in July 2016, with three foreigners.
Lindsay Sandiford, 69, has been on his death row in Indonesia for more than a decade. She was arrested in 2012 when 8.4 pounds of cocaine were found stuffed with cocaine in the luggage lining of the Bali airport. Indonesia's Supreme Court upheld Sandyford's death penalty in 2013.
Despite having the world's strictest drug laws, Indonesia is a major drug hub, partly because international drug groups target its young population, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime said.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's government has repatriated several high-profile prisoners in recent months, all of whom have been convicted of drug crimes and returned to their homeland.
Frenchman Serge Atlaoui agreed to a deal with Paris in Jakarta in February to return to him on "humanitarian reasons" because he was sick and returned to France.
In December, Indonesia took Mary Jane Veloso Leave her death row and send her back to the Philippines.
It also sent the remaining five members "Bali Nine" Du Huan is sentenced to heavy imprisonment and returned to Australia.
According to the Indonesian Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, 96 foreigners were on death row before Veloso was released.
Meanwhile, in the former British pilot Sri Lanka, Charlotte May Leearrested for accusing her of having more than 100 pounds of synthetic marijuana in her suitcase. If convicted, she may face life in prison.
France-Pars-Pars contributed to this report.