
Several people arrested in Bali on drugs charges that could carry death penalty
The move comes after three British nationals accused of smuggling nearly a kilogram of cocaine into Indonesia were charged on Tuesday in a court on Bali.
Customs officers at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport arrested an Indian national with the initials HV, who was carrying a duffel bag, in the customs and excise inspection area on May 29.
The officers found narcotic-related items in his belongings, authorities said.
Following up on the interrogation of HV, later that day officers from the National Narcotics Agency of Bali Province arrested an Australian man with the initials PR, who has been visiting Bali since 1988.
PR asked HV to bring the duffel bag from Los Angeles to Bali, said I Made Sinar Subawa, an official from the narcotics agency, at a news conference.
During a search at a house where he stayed, officers found drugs in the form of hashish, a cannabis concentrate product, that belonged to PR and had been purchased over the Telegram messaging app.
The hashish was shipped from Los Angeles and Philippines before finally being received in Bali, Mr Subawa said. Officers seized 191 grams of hashish along with some candies consisting of tetrahydrocannabinol, and 488 grams of marijuana.
Both PR and HV are now suspected of dealing in narcotics, based on the evidence that was found with them, Mr Subawa said.
'PR is suspected of violating Indonesia's Narcotics Law which carries the death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for a minimum of four years and a maximum of 12 years,' said Mr Subawa.
Along with HV and PR, the agency also arrested WM, an American, on May 23 while he was collecting a package from a post office in Bali.
An officer opened the package carried by WM and found seven pieces of silver packaging containing a total of 99 orange amphetamine pills and secured one white Apple iPhone.
The agency, at a news conference in the city of Denpasar on Thursday, presented the evidence, including marijuana and hashish, seized from the suspects.
All suspects will undergo legal proceedings in Indonesia, including trial and sentencing.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.
The south-east Asian country has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted smugglers can face severe penalties, including the possibility of execution by firing squad.
About 530 people, including 96 foreigners, are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, latest figures from the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections show.
Indonesia's last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

The National
22 minutes ago
- The National
The proscription of Palestine Action has frightening implications
The legal proscription of groups such as Palestine Action is founded upon Islamophobic counter-terror legislation, which has disproportionately targeted Muslims and securitised issues related to the Middle East. It risks criminalising not only membership of an effective activist group but also a host of pro-Palestinian statements and actions. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to announce the ban today after Palestine Action members broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire last week and sprayed two military planes with red paint. Proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation sets a dangerous precedent against anti-war activism but also represents the suppression by successive UK governments of activism drawing attention to British support for Israeli war crimes in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran. READ MORE: 'He should be in the Hague': Laura Kuenssberg slammed for Israeli president interview One reason why Palestine Action is facing such a harsh reprisal is the clear embarrassment the Brize Norton event has caused the British Government. By breaking into an RAF air base, Palestine Action has sharply highlighted the limits of British power and security, at a time where Keir Starmer's Government seems keen to impress a reactionary US administration and show support for Israeli aggression in Iran. Meanwhile, the tactics of Palestine Action,have proven to be highly effective. Targeting institutions complicit in the genocide of Palestinians – such as Israeli-based military contractor Elbit Systems UK – it has used highly visual forms of direct activism to great effect, with occupations, the scaling of public structures and the spray painting and daubing of buildings. Such activism has both disrupted the British military and British-based businesses profiting from war and genocide, and tapped into a widespread sense of disapproval and disgust across the public at UK Government for Israel, a country which has carried out mass killings. The use of counter-terrorism powers against Palestine Action may seem surprising, but it represents a long process by which successive UK governments have sought to clamp down on activism highlighting British hypocrisy on the international stage. For many years, counter-terror police have been conducting intelligence gathering on climate activists, to see if their activity could 'indicate a path towards terrorism'. Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil have regularly faced harassment and threats of counter-terror action. The proscribing of Palestine Action not only forms part of an assault on activism, but also showcases how counter-terrorism has become increasingly anti-Palestinian in its orientation, with British authorities deliberately and systematically conflating support for Palestine with terrorism. Academics and human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have long detailed experiences of harassment by counter-terror police, based on actual or perceived support of Palestinian rights. The UK Government Prevent programme has played a significant part in securitising Palestinian activism, with schools students as young as five being reported to authorities after expressing sentiments in support of Palestine. Since the start of massive Israeli violence in Gaza in October 2023, such reports have skyrocketed by 455%, with students told to remove badges, stickers and T-shirts that have 'free Palestine' on them, alleged retaliatory measures against college students for tweeting support or joining pickets for Palestine; and reports of university exclusions, suspensions and investigations, as well as the cancellations of pro-Palestinian events. This normalisation of targeting of pro-Palestinian activism has had severe legal impacts, leading to prosecutions based on anti-activist sentiment. These include the prosecution of three women who displayed images of paragliders during a protest and a man for wearing a green Saudi Arabian headband containing the basic statement of the Islamic faith 'shahada', on the charge of 'carrying or displaying an article in a public place in such a way as to arouse reasonable suspicion' that they were supporting Hamas. In addition to the long trend by successive UK governments of criminalising Palestinian activism, proscription now frames it as a terror threat – equating Palestinian activism with, for instance, the 2005 London bombings, the murder of 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, or the execution of 77 left-wing youth at Utøya, Norway. The use of such powers has frightening implications for Palestinian activism, not just because it will be framed as a security threat to the British state, but also because of how such legislation is constructed. The Act of Proscription, as detailed under Part II of the Terrorism Act 2000, not only makes it illegal to be a member of a banned group, but also criminalises a host of other actions that are, or can be perceived as, being linked to the aims or objectives of the group. It is not just a terror offence to belong, or profess to belong to, a proscribed organisation, in the UK or overseas – it is a terror offence to engage in acts that may be considered as supportive. Under Part II, Section 12 of the Act, supportive acts are defined as 'moral support or approval' of a proscribed organisation, expressing an opinion or belief supportive of a proscribed organisation, or encouraging support for the activities of such an organisation. The implementation of this law, when used against a non-violent Palestinian activist group, is the criminalisation of anyone who publicly expresses sentiment in support of Palestine Action's aims. Its website lists these as 'ending global participation in Israel's genocidal and apartheid regime' and seeking to 'make it impossible for … companies to profit from the oppression of Palestinians' Proscription also criminalises the wearing of clothing or carrying of signs that may 'arouse reasonable suspicion' that an individual supports a proscribed organisation, under Section 13 of the Act. This includes publishing images of such items online. Pro-Palestinian clothes, the Palestinian keffiyeh, Palestinian flags and signs are now very squarely in the crosshairs of counter-terror police, creating a vast array of possibility for prosecution of activists. The proscription of Palestine Action places people in Scotland and across Britain in very dangerous legal territory. Heavy-handed measures are increasingly being deployed by the British state to prosecute non-violent groups and activists as 'terrorists'. Successive UK governments have sought to roll back human and democratic rights under the guise of counter-terrorism, prevent activism critical of the British state, and to conflate Muslim communities and Middle Eastern issues with terrorism. The banning of Palestine Action represents an attempt to crush dissent that highlights British complicity in war crimes and embarrasses the UK Government. It also introduces a host of deeply worrying possibilities for the prosecution of activists, journalists, academics – indeed, anyone who speaks out in support of Palestinian rights, an end to the genocide and the use of public activism. Proscription shows the contempt the UK Government has for Palestinian freedom, and should be a loud alarm for those who value democracy and human rights, in times of genocide. Richard McNeil-Willson lectures in the Islamic and Middle Eastern studies department at the University of Edinburgh


Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
UK military bases on 'highest level' red alert after US bombing of Iran
The British armed forces are on the highest level of alert for drone strikes after the US bombing of Iran, the Defence Secretary has confirmed British forces stationed throughout the Middle East have been placed on heightened alert for potential drone strikes after the US airstrikes on Iran, as per Defence Secretary John Healey. Healey has affirmed that protection of UK Armed Forces is now at "highest level" amid escalating concerns that the US action might ignite a broader conflict, as published in The Telegraph. Since the strikes took place early Sunday morning, security measures at British bases in the Middle East have been significantly intensified, with staff preparing for the possibility of not only drone attacks but conventional rocket and missile assaults too. The increased state of alert also comes at a time of growing worry over threats to UK bases both domestically and abroad. On Saturday, a British national was apprehended in Cyprus under suspicion of conducting espionage on an RAF base for Iran, closely following an incident where two pro-Palestinian activists infiltrated RAF Brize Norton and caused damage to two planes, reports the Express. In his column for the newspaper on Sunday, Mr Healey penned: "The safety of UK personnel and bases is my top priority. Force protection is at its highest level, and we deployed additional jets this week." Senior defence officials are particularly cautious of the use of drones following an event where Ukrainian drones wreaked havoc on 40 Russian aircrafts –including those capable of carrying nuclear warheads– across Russia. With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russia's employment of Iranian-made Shahed drones has led to widespread power outages and significant destruction of infrastructure. The Shahed-136's explosive payload, originally designed to demolish buildings, can now also deliver lethal fragmentation or thermobaric blasts. Iran has recently deployed these drones against targets in Israel. Earlier this month, Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that additional RAF jets would be dispatched to the region to enhance security. British bases in the Middle East include RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, where 14 RAF jets are currently stationed, as well as naval hubs in Bahrain and Oman and shared airbases in Qatar and the UAE. Potential extra security measures could involve increasing armed guards, issuing live ammunition and deploying more radar systems. The US acted independently in its strikes on Iran, and so far Iran's threats of retaliation have been solely directed at America. It is understood that British bases are not yet preparing for any immediate, targeted attack, but the heightened alert reflects the broad range of threats - from rockets to improvised explosive devices - that UK forces could potentially face.


Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Brit caught in Iran's revenge strike in Israel says she was buoyed by her ‘blitz spirit'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A BRITISH woman caught in Iran's revenge strikes after the US atom plant attack told how she was buoyed by her 'blitz spirit' yesterday. Nicola Simmonds, 58, was rocked by the biggest ballistic missile to blast Tel Aviv early yesterday. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Nicola Simmonds, 58, was rocked by the biggest ballistic missile to blast Tel Aviv Credit: Doug Seeburg 5 Israeli emergency teams work at the site of an Iranian missile strike on a residential building complex in Tel Aviv Credit: EPA 5 Israeli emergency teams arrive at the scene and launch search and rescue operations Credit: Getty The tour guide told how fellow shelter dwellers gasped in terror as the explosion wrecked a low rise housing block and sent a blast of air through her bunker. Nicola - who grew up in Mill Hill, North London but now lives in the Ramat Aviv suburb 10 miles north of the city centre - said: 'I've heard blast before in recent days but nothing like this. 'There was an enormous boom followed by a rush of air and we knew this was big and very close. 'But I'm British and my grandfather was a volunteer ambulance driver in the London blitz - so I strangely didn't feel as afraid as everyone else. 'It was against all advice but I, kind of, crawled out of my hole and found myself heading straight for the site of the explosion. 'It's strange but it really did feel like the blitz - what my grandfather had braved in London, I was now experiencing in Tel Aviv.' A five storey block 600 metres from Nicola's home was devastated at 8am yesterday by an enormous Iranian missile strike. Bedding, clothes and belongings hung from the blown out shell of a block with other buildings blackened, cars wrecked and glass and debris strewn across the neighbourhood. The Sun's team took cover in a hotel shelter at 7.30am yesterday when sirens and alerts signalled the first revenge attack after Operation Midnight Hammer. Walls of our shelter in the city centre hotel shook violently as a series of explosions ripped through the air above. Wounded Iran immediately lashes out at Israel launching volleys of ballistic missiles causing 'large-scale destruction' Ramat Aviv took the biggest hit of the attack in the bustling coastal city as families across the country cowered bomb shelters. Gran-of-three Shevi Lahav - an 84-year-old holocaust survivor - told The Sun: 'I live on the fourth floor of a nine story block but don't know if I have a home to go back to now. 'I fled from the Nazis in Russian for two years in World War II and it's hard to believe I'm being attacked again. 'I was in the shelter but god knows what would have happened to me if I hadn't reached the shelter. 'But we won't give in - we didn't give in then and we won't give in now.' 5 Tel Aviv residents shelter in a hotel bunker as Iranian missiles hit the Israeli city Credit: Doug Seeburg