Three British nationals accused of smuggling almost a kilogram of cocaine into Indonesia are appearing in court on the popular tourist island of Bali.
They face the death penalty under the country's harsh drug laws.
In Indonesia, those convicted of drug smuggling are sometimes executed by firing squad.
Jonathan Christopher Collier, 28, and Lisa Ellen Stoker, 29, were detained on February 1 after customs officers stopped them at an X-ray machine and found suspicious items disguised as food packaging in their luggage, said Ai Made prosecutor Deepa Umbara.
Mr Umbara told the Denpasar District Court that laboratory test results confirmed that 10 sachets of Angel Delight dessert powder in Collier's luggage, combined with seven similar sachets in his partner's suitcase, contained 993.56 grams of cocaine worth about six billion rupiah (£272,000).
Two days later, authorities arrested Phineas Ambrose Floth, 31, after a police-organized controlled delivery in which two other suspects handed him the drug in a hotel parking lot in Denpasar. He is being tried separately.
Mr Umbara said the drugs were transported from England to Indonesia via Doha International Airport in Qatar.
The group had previously successfully smuggled cocaine into Bali twice before being caught on a third attempt, Ponko Indriyo, deputy director of the Bali police's anti-narcotics department, said at a press conference in Denpasar on February 7.
After indicting the three-man group, a three-judge panel adjourned the trial until June 10, when the court will hear witness testimony.
The defendants and their lawyers declined to comment on the situation to the media after the court hearing.
There are about 530 people, including 96 foreigners, on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, according to the Immigration and Correctional Services Ministry.
The most recent executions in Indonesia – of one Indonesian and three foreigners – were carried out in July 2016.
British woman Lindsay Sandiford, now 69, has been on death row in Indonesia for more than a decade. She was arrested in 2012 after 3.8 kilograms of cocaine were found in the lining of her luggage at Bali airport.
In 2013, Indonesia's highest court upheld Sandiford's death sentence.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug smuggling hub despite having some of the world's toughest drug laws, partly because international drug cartels target its young population.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
