Life is Healthy

Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Fri, 03/26/2010 10:34 AM | Bali

At the Denpasar District Court on Thursday, prosecutors in the trial of an Iranian caught of smuggling crystal methamphetamine said they were seeking the death penalty.

Prosecutors said defendant Saeid Shahbazi violated the 2009 Narcotics Law by importing or supplying 22 capsules of crystal methamphetamine with a total weight of 162.13 grams and could face the death penalty.

“The defendant intentionally brought the drugs through the Ngurah Rai International Airport arrival gate,” prosecutor I Ketut Sujaya said during the session presided over by judge Sigit Sutanto.

The 34-year-old Iranian, the sole defendant in the case, allegedly attempted to smuggle the crystal meth capsules by swallowing the drugs.

He was arrested by Customs and Excise officers at the airport upon his arrival from Doha via Kuala Lumpur onboard a Qatar Airways flight on Dec. 21 last year.

The court heard testimony from two Customs and Excise officers, a medical worker at the Bali International Medical Center and two police officers.

The defendant looked panicked when approaching the immigration booth at the airport, Customs and Excise officer Ketut Suciawan said. Suciawan was posted at the arrival gate at the time.

“We suspected something and immediately took him to the examination room and later to the hospital,” he said.

Prosecutors said that the officers didn’t find the drugs when searching the defendant’s luggage, but noticed that his stomach looked bloated and that his demeanor was panicky.

Doctors at the hospital scanned his stomach and found several small plastic bags that resembled capsules.

After an X-ray was performed on the defendant and he was given laxatives, medical staff recovered 22 capsules containing crystal meth.

Bali has seen many cases of drug smuggling in the last couple of months.

Among the foreigners arrested for smuggling drugs was Indian national Mohammed Umar, who was carrying 9.8 kilograms of ketamine in his luggage last month.

The 36-year-old man smuggled the white crystal powder, usually used as an anesthetic, inside a water heater he brought from India.

In January, officers arrested a Malaysian woman, Hoon Yue Chin, for bringing in 0.62 grams of crystal meth.

Several days later, French national Francois Virgile Arthur Sidoine was caught with 0.78 grams of heroine in his underwear.

In the same month, two Malaysians, Chang Cheng Weng and Boo Guan Teik, were arrested for smuggling in two kilograms of crystal meth.

Weeks before Saeid was arrested, the Customs and Excise Office arrested seven other Iranians attempting to smuggle five kilograms of crystal meth by also swallowing the drugs.

In December, 48-year-old Australian Robert Paul McJannett was also detained by the police for attempting to smuggle two grams of marijuana into the island.