Three Brits face one year in prison over Bali drug charges
DENPASAR, (Indonesia): Indonesian prosecutors said Tuesday (June 24) they were seeking one-year prison sentences for three British nationals accused of drug offences on the resort island of Bali, a major reprieve in a country with some of the world's toughest drug laws.
Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 38, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 39, were arrested on February 1 after being stopped at Bali's international airport with 17 packages of cocaine that weighed nearly a kilogram, according to public court records.
They appeared in court alongside Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, who was allegedly due to receive the packages and was arrested a few days later in February.
"(Demanding the court) to sentence the defendants to one year in prison and to keep them in detention," prosecutor Made Dipa Umbara told the district court in Bali's capital Denpasar.
Umbara said that while the defendants were accused of breaking the law, they behaved well in court, acknowledged their wrongdoings, and pledged not to repeat their mistakes.
The British Foreign Office said it was in touch with local authorities about the case.
"We are providing consular support to three British Nationals detained in Indonesia," a spokesperson told AFP.
The sentence call came as a surprise as Indonesia typically hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling, including the death penalty, and has previously executed foreigners for doing so.
However the country has upheld a moratorium on the death sentence since 2017.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's administration has moved in recent months to repatriate several high-profile foreign inmates, all sentenced for drug offences, back to their home countries.
Frenchman Serge Atlaoui returned to France in February after Jakarta and Paris agreed on a deal to repatriate him on "humanitarian grounds" because he was ill.
In December, Indonesia took Mary Jane Veloso off of death row and returned her to the Philippines.
It also sent the five remaining members of the "Bali Nine" drug ring, who were serving heavy prison sentences, back to Australia.
According to Indonesia's Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, 96 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, before Veloso's release. - AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Hong Kong issues arrest warrants for 19 overseas activists, offers bounties for 15
HONG KONG: Hong Kong's national security police announced arrest warrants for 19 activists based overseas, accusing them of subversion under a stringent national security law, marking the largest such tally yet. They are accused of organising or participating in the "Hong Kong Parliament", a group authorities in the Asian financial hub say aimed to subvert state power, under the law Beijing imposed in 2020 following months of pro-democracy protests in 2019. The activists are accused of having launched a referendum or run as candidates in the unofficial "Hong Kong Parliament" group, which authorities say aims at achieving self-determination and drafting a "Hong Kong constitution". Police, who said the organisation sought to overthrow the governments of China and Hong Kong by unlawful means, said they are still investigating and further arrests may follow. Among those named are businessman Elmer Yuen, commentator Victor Ho, and activists Johnny Fok and Tony Choi. Four of them are subject to previous arrest warrants, each carrying a bounty of HK$1 million US$127,000). Among the remaining 15, for each of whom police are offering a bounty of HK$200,000 (US$25,480), are those said to have organised or run in the election and sworn in as its councillors. None of the accused could be reached for comment. The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of a high degree of autonomy, including freedom of speech, under a "one country, two systems" formula. Critics of the national security law say authorities are using it to stifle dissent. Chinese and Hong Kong officials have repeatedly said the law was vital to restore stability after the city was rocked for months by sometimes violent anti-government and anti-China protests in 2019. Police reiterated that national security offences were serious crimes with extraterritorial reach and urged the wanted individuals to return to Hong Kong and surrender. "If offenders voluntarily give up continuing to violate the crime, turn themselves in, truthfully confess their crimes, or provide key information that helps solve other cases, they may be eligible for reduced punishment," they said in a statement. Police also warned that aiding, abetting, or funding others to participate in the "Hong Kong Parliament" could be a criminal offence. - Reuters
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Indonesian gets 34 years' in jail, 14 strokes of rotan for sexually abusing brother's teen stepdaughter
KOTA KINABALU: An Indonesian labourer has been sentenced to 34 years' in jail by the Sandakan Sessions Court for molesting and sexually abusing his elder brother's teenage stepdaughter on Friday (July 25). The 25-year-old pleaded guilty before Sessions Court Judge Zaini Fisher @ Fisal, who also ordered him to be whipped 14 times for committing the offence between July 7 and 9 this year at an unnumbered house at an oil palm plantation quarters in Sandakan. Zaini also handed down an additional four months' jail on the accused for staying in the state without a valid document, and ordered him to be referred to the Immigration Department for deportation to his country of origin after serving the sentences. According to the facts of the case, the incident came to light on July 9 when the accused's brother noticed that his 14-year-old stepdaughter was experiencing unusually heavy bleeding. He also found her clothes in the bathroom stained with a significant amount of blood. When asked, the teenager said that she had been molested and raped by her uncle since July 7, which prompted the stepfather to take her to the Duchess of Kent Hospital for treatment before lodging a police report. The medical examiner found tear marks in her private parts, and no external body injuries. The accused was later arrested at the police station at Ulu Dusun, Jalan Labuk in Sandakan at about 12.30pm on July 11. He was charged under Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for committing the crime, which carries a jail sentence of not more than 20 years, and liable to whipping. Zaini handed down eight years jail on him for the offence. The accused also admitted to raping his niece twice, the first at 11pm on July 8 and again at 3am on July 9 at the same unnumbered house. For the second and third offences, he was charged under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code, which carries a jail sentence of up to 20 years plus whipping. The court handed down a sentence of 13 years jail and seven whippings for each charge. Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Azizi Hamil conducted the prosecution, while the accused was unrepresented.
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Overcrowding at Sandakan depot as ops continue against undocumented migrants
SANDAKAN: The Sandakan Immigration depot is housing more than 1,500 undocumented migrants, exceeding its maximum capacity of 1,200, as enforcement operations continue across Sabah. State Immigration director Datuk Sh Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said the overcrowding has put great pressure on resources and raised safety concerns. 'We're facing serious challenges with congestion. The Sandakan depot alone has exceeded its limit, and there's still a continuous flow of detainees from ongoing operations,' she told a press conference at the depot here on Friday (July 25). Of the detainees currently at the Sandakan depot, 1,273 are Filipinos and 266 are Indonesians. The Sandakan facility is one of four such depots across Sabah, now collectively housing 5,181 detainees – 4,157 Filipinos and 893 Indonesians – out of a total capacity of 7,000. Depot conditions are also deteriorating, with some blocks in Sandakan closed for maintenance. Only six to seven blocks remain operational, many of which have not been upgraded since 2010. To ease the overcrowding, Sitti Saleha said some detainees from Sandakan will be transferred to the Tawau depot, where the number of detainees is expected to drop in the coming week. She urged the Philippine and Indonesian embassies to expedite the issuance of travel documents, adding that delays were hampering repatriation efforts and causing long detention periods. 'For example, the last repatriation of Indonesians was in March. Many of them have now been stuck here for over four months. 'As long as they are not issued travel documents, they will remain in the depot,' she added. She explained that the Philippine Embassy, based in Kuala Lumpur, has no embassy or consulate in Sabah, making coordination slower, while Indonesia maintains consulates in Kota Kinabalu and Tawau. Meanwhile, in a recent large-scale operation involving 54 personnel from Lahad Datu, Ranau, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu, a total of 212 individuals were screened, resulting in 125 arrests for suspected offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Passport Act 1966. The detainees are being held at the Sandakan depot for investigation. Sitti Saleha said the operations have been targeting squatter settlements, based on public complaints. She added that enforcement has also extended to employers, with 80 across the state prosecuted to date for hiring undocumented migrants and failing to comply with procedures.
