A man from New Zealand is facing the death penalty in Bali after he was caught possessing a concoction of drugs, authorities have said.
On the lower end of the scale, the New Zealander national could be sentenced to at least several years behind bars after having cocaine, MDMA, and meth on his persons.
Yesterday, the Bali chapter of the National Narcotics Agency (BNNP Bali) revealed that the Kiwi, who was identified as MP, received a suspicious 'birthday' package from his friend in Canada.
The parcel itself - which arrived to the Indonesian province on August 26 - contained the drugs, and was picked up from a Denpasar post office mailbox that was registered in his name.
Sniffer dogs at the post office confirmed the package contained the illegal drugs. It was later revealed by authorities that the package contained a shocking 3 grams of cocaine, almost 2 grams of MDMA, and 1.7 grams of meth.
The 42-year-old man, who is half-Indonesian, had been residing in the town of South Kuta for six months.
Following the search, he was arrested at a parking lot of a store in the area on August 30, and went on to tell authorities that the shipment was his birthday present.
Under Indonesia’s harsh anti-narcotics law, MP now faces at least 4 years behind bars. Otherwise, if he is proven guilty of drug possession and trafficking, he may face the harshest sentence of all – the death penalty.
Indonesia - alongside the other ASEAN member sates of Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Laos (with the exception of Thailand) - do not allow the personal possession, sale, and/or trafficking of anything classified as a drug or narcotic.
This includes many recreational drugs or substances that may be deemed legal in other countries, such as cannabis derivatives, or prescription narcotics.
Indonesia has one of the strictest anti-drug laws in the world, and a person caught with possession of the illegal substances has a maximum jail term of four years, and supply has a maximum term of 12 years.
In 2015 and 2016, it was reported that Indonesia executed 18 people for drug-related crimes. And LBHM estimates that there are 413 people on death row - 275 of whom were convicted of drug-related crimes.
