Judges in Indonesia have sentenced a group of three British nationals to one year in prison for drugs offences after a charge that could have carried the death penalty was dropped.
Jonathan Christopher Collier, 28, and his partner Lisa Ellen Stoker, 29, were arrested on February 1 when customs officers found 993 grams (2.2 pounds) of cocaine worth about six billion rupees (£271,731). The drugs were hidden among sachets of dessert powder.
Two days later, authorities arrested Phineas Ambrose Floth, 31, after he orchestrated a drug delivery for police.
During the trial in June, defence lawyers argued their clients were unaware of the presence of cocaine in the food they were provided in England.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the Denpasar District Court handed down a one-year jail sentence minus time served, allowing them to expect release in seven months.
In another case, an Argentine woman was sentenced to seven years in prison and a Briton was given a five-year sentence and fined one billion rupiah (£45,322) for smuggling cocaine into Bali.
Eleonora Gracia, 46, was arrested at the Bali airport in March with 244 grams (0.5 pounds) of cocaine. Authorities say she handed the cocaine to Elliot James Shaw, 50, during a police operation at a Bali hotel.
The sentences were seen as lenient because Indonesia has strict penalties for drug trafficking, including the death penalty.
Indonesian authorities also said they recently arrested a Brazilian and a South African woman accused of cocaine smuggling.
The 25-year-old Brazilian, identified by his initials YB, was arrested on July 13 shortly after arriving from Dubai and accused of transporting 3,086 grams (6.8 pounds) of cocaine in his suitcase and backpack at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, said Made Sinar Subawa, head of the Bali Anti-Narcotics Agency's anti-narcotics department.
On the same day, customs officials seized 990 grams (2.1 pounds) of cocaine, which was allegedly hidden in the underwear of a 32-year-old South African woman, identified as L.N., according to reports.
According to the Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Services, in Indonesia
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
