Four people face the death penalty after drug arrests in Bali

DENPASAR, Indonesia — Indonesian authorities said on Tuesday that they had arrested six people on drug-related charges on the tourist island of Bali since July.

Four of them could face execution due to the country's strict drug laws.

Two Thai nationals, 33-year-old Rachanon Jongseeha and his 31-year-old girlfriend Woranawan Wongsuwan, were arrested upon arrival at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport on September 8. They were carrying 1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine mixed with ecstasy powder in 108 sachets of a fruit-flavored collagen drink, as well as 20 pills of the party drug ecstasy, according to the province's anti-drug chief, Rudy Ahmad Sudrajat.

Police later arrested two Indonesians on suspicion of ordering the drugs from Thailand.

All four could be shot if they are charged and found guilty, Sudrajat said. In November 2019, a court in Bali sentenced two Thai men to 16 years in prison for smuggling a kilogram of methamphetamine.

Authorities also announced that two European men were arrested on drug charges in July.

Sudrajat said a Latvian man with the initials VS was arrested at the airport on July 4. He had 450.41 grams (15.8 ounces) of hashish and 977.83 grams (34.5 ounces) of marijuana hidden in his suitcase.

Sudrajat said VS had a tattoo indicating affiliation with organized crime gangs in the former Soviet Union.

He faces a life sentence for cannabis smuggling.

A Swede with the initials SUE was arrested on July 31 when police raided his villa in Gianyar, a popular tourist resort, and seized 201.28 grams (7 ounces) of hashish after there were tips that SUE had received a suspicious package in the mail from Thailand, Sudrajat said. He faces up to 15 years in prison for possession.

In Indonesia, dozens of convicted drug smugglers are on death row. The last executions took place in July 2016, when an Indonesian and three foreigners were shot by firing squad.

In May 2019, a French citizen was sentenced to death on Lombok, an island next to Bali, for smuggling three kilograms of ecstasy before a higher court commuted his sentence to 19 years in prison.