German and British nationals arrested for alleged Bali drug smuggling

DENPASAR: A German man and a British man have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs into the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, officials said Thursday, with one of them possibly facing the death penalty.

The 56-year-old German, identified by his initials SKAR, was arrested on January 26 when he arrived at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport on a flight from Doha.

Customs agents found heroin, amphetamine, morphine and diazepam stashed in his luggage, and an additional 1.21 grammes of heroin stuffed down his underwear, a senior official from Bali immigration said.

"When we inspected his black suitcase we found that the German national had one plastic bag containing brown powder which we suspect was heroin," Husni Syaiful said.

Authorities also confiscated a small white bottle allegedly containing 2.57 grammes of amphetamine, 23 tablets containing morphine and 30 tablets labelled diazepam in a bag belonging to the man, Husni added.

The German could face the death penalty under Indonesia's harsh anti-narcotics laws because he was allegedly caught trafficking more than five grammes of drugs.

Two days earlier, airport immigration officials detained a British man who arrived in the same Bali airport from Bangkok.

The 48-year-old computer analyst, identified by the initials ASH, was found with diazepam which exceeded the amount he was prescribed.

He is suspected to have violated Indonesia's customs and psychotropic laws and could face a maximum 10 year prison sentence, authorities said, or a fine of up to 300,000,000 rupiah (USD 21,000).

Foreigners are regularly caught trying to bring drugs into Bali, a tropical island that attracts millions of visitors each year, and some have been sentenced to death.

In 2017, Bali customs caught 42 cases of violations, while in 2016 there were 20 cases.