Thai methamphetamine smugglers avoid death penalty in Indonesia’s Bali
- The verdict comes four months after the pair were arrested by suspicious airport officials after arriving on a flight from Bangkok
- At the time of their arrest in October, police said the Thai women could face a firing squad for smuggling nearly a kilogram of the drug
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Two Thai women convicted of smuggling methamphetamine into Bali have escaped a possible death sentence on the Indonesian holiday island after a court jailed them for 16 years.
The verdict on Wednesday comes four months after the pair were arrested by suspicious airport officials who found nearly a kilogram of methamphetamine hidden under their clothes after arriving on a flight from Bangkok.
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At the time of their arrest in October, police said the Thai women could face a firing squad if found guilty.
Prosecutors, who had demanded a 19-year jail term, said on Wednesday they may appeal against the lighter-than-requested sentences.
The two Thais must also pay 1 billion rupiah (US$72,000) each in fines or have three more months tacked on to their sentence, the court said.
Indonesia has slowed the pace of its executions in recent years despite broad public support for the penalty.
A French drug trafficker briefly on death row saw his sentence reduced to 19 years on appeal.
While death sentences are often reduced to long jail terms, Indonesia has executed foreign nationals in the past, including two Australian masterminds of the Bali Nine heroin gang who were shot in 2015.
