British woman, 56, gets death for smuggling cocaine into Bali

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An Indonesian court sentenced a middle-aged British woman to death on Tuesday for smuggling cocaine worth more than $2.5 million into the resort island of Bali.

Lindsay Sandiford, 56, was found guilty of smuggling 4.8 kg (11 lbs) of the drug hidden in the lining of her suitcase on a flight from Bangkok in May.

Sandiford, who was accompanied by a translator, covered her face several times with a head scarf as she listened to the verdict being read out.

It was not clear if she would appeal. Prosecutors had initially sought a jail term for Sandiford, taking into account her age.

Indonesia has some of the strictest drug trafficking laws in the world, with many foreigners languishing in jail on Bali.

The so-called Bali Nine were arrested in 2005 and found guilty of attempting to smuggle more than 8 kg of heroin into Australia. Their sentences ranged from 15 years' jail to death.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-indonesia-drugs-idUSBRE90L09G20130122
 
An Indonesian court sentenced a British grandmother to death on Tuesday for smuggling cocaine worth $2.5 million in her suitcase onto the resort island of Bali — even though prosecutors had sought only a 15-year sentence.

Lindsay June Sandiford, 56, wept when judges handed down the sentence and declined to speak to reporters on her way back to prison, covering her face with a floral scarf. She had claimed in court that she was forced into taking the drugs into the country by a gang that was threatening to hurt her children.

Indonesia, like many Asian countries, is very strict on drug crimes, and most of the more than 40 foreigners on its death row were convicted of drug charges.

Sandiford's lawyer said she would appeal. Appeals take several years. Condemned criminals face a firing squad in Indonesia, which has not carried out an execution since 2008, when 10 people were put to death.

A verdict is expected in the trial of Sandiford's alleged accomplice, British man Julian Anthony Pounder, on Wednesday. He is accused of receiving the drugs in Bali, which has a busy bar and nightclub scene where party drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy are bought and sold between foreigners. Two other British citizens and an Indian have already been convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with the bust.
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http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Indonesia-sentences-UK-woman-to-death-over-drugs-4212327.php
 
Well, there are strict laws in Bali, and she must have known about them as she smuggled 4, if not 5! KILOS of cocaine into the country. Frankly the death sentence is extreme, but imagine an old woman in an Indonesian jail cell surrounded by all sorts of characters for the rest of her life. She commited the crime, it's the law there. I do not agree with the sentencing or the punishment by all means, but that's life. I think in all honesty shell suffer less through death than life imprisonment.
 
There's no need to hurl insults at another BLer for stating his/her freedom of opinion on the matter. I'm not saying I agree with his stance, but resorting to name-calling while debating? Easy there.

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I think that poor lady was the obligatory decoy in a routine drug smuggling round into Bali. Someone else probably got through with 10+ kilos while customs were tipped off about her. They get their "big arrest" for the day or week (as well as possibly some extra coin for ignoring everyone else) and they're happy. And the drug dealers easily make up financially for their confiscated product as the price balloons big time once it gets into the hands of a user. Happens ALL the time and it's sad that people continue to fall for the prospect of making some quick cash by randomly flying into another country, staying there a few days and flying back with some concealed blow/smack/hash/etc. All because some local stranger drug dealer acquaintance made it all sound so easy peasy. Obviously they'd never risk doing it themselves and it almost never ends up happening that way they "promise."

In any case, poor lady. Fucking draconian drug laws are fucking draconian drug laws. Also, it doesn't help that Indonesia is a muslim majority country. Not that I hate muslims - I had a muslim gf that I loved to death - but their drug laws are always rather harsh.

Hopefully the British government will be able to appeal for some form of clemency (at the very least, have her do her time behind bars back in the UK).

Personally I'd send in the SAS to get her out. Then again, I know fuck all about the consequences of doing such a thing. Hence, it's a good thing I'm not in charge.
 
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Although it is a tragic event, perhaps such a case will serve to get people thinking how wrong this situation is and contribute to the demise of the prohibitionist dark ages. The fact that it is cocaine, which is not seen perhaps, as negatively as heroin (though in health terms, I am not trying to downplay the damage cocaine does) may also contribute to this move away from knee jerk prohibition favouring attitudes amongst the public.

For sure, as soon as the walls start coming down in the USA, the dominoes will fall.
 
they simply can't have a bunch of hard drugs casting a dark shadow over their thriving sex tourism industry. Seriously, who's going to want to get with an 11 year old ladyboy who's high on dope?
 
you think she "HAD NO IDEA" the drugs were in the suitcase and "HAD NO IDEA" you could get the death penalty for smuggling

Dont do the crime if you cant pay off the customs officials
 
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British woman on Bali death row over cocaine

A BRITISH drug smuggler, Lindsay Sandiford, has been condemned to death by firing squad in Bali for smuggling in 4.8 kilograms of cocaine last year.

The sentence, handed down late on Tuesday, shocked Sandiford, 56, her lawyers and onlookers, because prosecutors had asked for a 15-year jail sentence, and because her four co-accused were let off with much lighter penalties.

Sandiford said nothing when the verdict was handed down but was seen later huddled in the rear of her court cell.

She will now join the Bali Nine smugglers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan on death row in Kerobokan jail. The Australians are in the midst of last-chance clemency applications.

Sandiford claimed she had smuggled the drugs only because one of her co-accused, Julian Ponder, had threatened to kill her son.

She helped police by allowing them to watch her deliver the drugs, and leading them to the co-accused.

But I Gusti Agung Bagus Wijaya Adi, a member of the three-judge panel at the Denpasar District Court, said ''aggravating circumstances'' justified the death penalty.

Sandiford had refused to admit the cocaine had belonged to her (she said it belonged to Ponder), she had given ''twisted and convoluted testimony'', and had shown no remorse, he said.

When the chief judge, Amser Simanjuntak, read out the death penalty, Sandiford looked directly at him, but looked as though she was holding back tears.

Sandiford's lawyer, Esra Karo Karo, said the judges had ignored Sandiford's pleas. ''We never expected this,'' he said.

Prosecutors had told the court last month that they were calling for a relatively light 15-year sentence because Sandiford had behaved politely during the case and had admitted her crime.

Sandiford was arrested in May when a large package of cocaine was discovered in the lining of her suitcase. After being caught

by police, she agreed to deliver the drug-stuffed package to her fellow British citizen Ponder.

The delivery led police to Ponder, whom Sandiford accused of being the ringleader. Rachel Dougall, Paul Beales and an Indian citizen, Nandagopal Akkineni were also arrested.

All but Ponder have been given light sentences.

Dougall will spend one year in prison for failing to report the presence of an illegal drug.

Beales has been jailed for four years for possession of 3.6 grams of hashish and Akkineni will serve five years for possession.

Ponder has not yet been sentenced but prosecutors have asked for seven years, also for possession relating to drugs found at his house during a police raid.

It leaves Sandiford as the only one of the group prosecuted over the cocaine delivery.
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http://www.smh.com.au/world/british-woman-on-bali-death-row-over-cocaine-20130122-2d5bp.html

A few more details and the outcomes of her co-accused who she snitched on.
 
Anybody watch "Locked Up Abroad?" The first couple seasons just got put on a Netflix. I watched part of the first episode the other night. A fascinating show for sure.
 
^yea ive seen a few episodes of that, and the smugglers tell the mules as as ro4eva said easy peasy you get through customs and you give the package of whatever to whoever and you get your money. but its just not that easy. body language, sweating, acting nervous ect are all alarms to indicate something isnt right. but to put the woman to death is beyond what is rational. 5 kilos. that like .00001% of all the coke that is constantly being made in south america. She had the misfortune of doing this where the drug laws are the wrost in the world. maybe they should have a war on drugs too.

maybe the MI6 can do a special ops style assualt and rescue her.
 
LogicSoDeveloped said:
Anybody watch "Locked Up Abroad?" The first couple seasons just got put on a Netflix. I watched part of the first episode the other night. A fascinating show for sure.
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hell yeah thats a great show. I feel bad for a lot of those people though, foreign prisons do not sound very fun.
 
She might be lucky and get it swapped to life at some stage. Some of the Aussie heroin couriers (Bali 9) had that happen I think and now I believe only 2 of them are still on death row in Bali.

Beales has been jailed for four years for possession of 3.6 grams of hashish and Akkineni will serve five years for possession.
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4 yrs for 3.6 grams of hash :(
 
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Jesus, if the story about her son being killed unless she smuggled the cocaine is true, then that is some real fucked up shit. How they can put her on death row over that is simply unethical and unjust. I know she committed a large crime in the eyes of that country, but who the hell wouldn't smuggle that through if they had threats against their children?
 
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