A woman from Peru is facing the possibility of the death penalty after being charged with attempting to smuggle drugs worth $70,000 into Bali. The drugs were allegedly hidden inside a sex toy and in her underwear.
The 42-year-old, known only by her initials N.S, had flown from Barcelona, Spain, with a final destination of Bali, Indonesia. Her route included a stopover in Doha, Qatar, before reaching Bali on August 12.
On her arrival, customs officials noted her peculiar behavior and alerted law enforcement officers.
Radiant, the director of Bali police’s narcotics unit, addressed the media, explaining, “Although the X-ray machine did not detect anything suspicious in her luggage, customs officers found her behavior suspicious and decided to conduct a body search…
“After consulting with the police, they did a further check on her.”
Authorities allegedly discovered 1.4kg (3.1lb) of cocaine and 43 ecstasy pills cleverly hidden on her person, according to Radiant.
As per BBC News, Radiant elaborated: “The narcotics were hidden in six plastic packages wrapped in black duct tape inside a green bra, three similar packages in black underwear, and a sex toy containing drugs, which was inserted into her body.”
N.S reportedly claimed she was offered $19,000 to transport the drugs into Bali by someone she encountered on the dark web in April.
She has been charged under Indonesia’s stringent drug laws, which carry severe penalties.
If convicted, N.S could be sentenced to death.
A conviction could place her among several other drug traffickers on death row in Indonesia, a country that has not executed anyone since 2016.
The last executions involved one Indonesian and three Nigerian individuals, carried out by firing squad.
This incident follows the recent case of three British nationals who narrowly avoided the death penalty after being caught smuggling cocaine into Indonesia. Lisa Stocker, 39, and her husband Jon Collyer, 38, were apprehended at Bali’s international airport with 994g of cocaine, while their contact, Phineas Float, 31, was arrested shortly thereafter.
Following their February arrest, the judge sentenced the trio to only 12 months in prison.