Indonesia court jails Briton in drug case

An Indonesian interpreter accompanies Andrea Ruth Waldeck, right, of Britain as she listens to a judge during her trial at the district court in Surabaya, Indonesia's East Java province. Picture: Sigit Pamungkas

An Indonesian interpreter accompanies Andrea Ruth Waldeck, right, of Britain as she listens to a judge during her trial at the district court in Surabaya, Indonesia's East Java province. Picture: Sigit Pamungkas

Published Jan 22, 2014

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Jakarta -

A court in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, on Wednesday sentenced a British woman to 14 years in prison for drug smuggling, media reports said.

The Surabaya District Court found Andrea Ruth Waldeck, 43, guilty of bringing 1.47 kilogram of crystal methamphetamine, known as ice, into the country, the Tempo.co news portal reported. She was also ordered to pay a fine of 2 billion rupiah (164 000 dollars) or serve an additional six months in jail.

Waldeck was arrested at a hotel in Surabaya in April.

She has told the court that a Nigerian drug ring had threatened the safety of her family if she refused to carry the drug.

“We object to the verdict because she was only a courier,” her lawyer, Roberto Kaligis, was quoted as saying by Tempo.co.

Prosecutors had demanded a 16-year jail sentence. Indonesia imposes harsh penalties, including death, for drug offences.

More than 110 people, including many foreigners, are currently on death row in Indonesia. Some have been in prison for more than a decade.

In August, Indonesia's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for a 57-year-old British woman, Lindsay Sandiford, who was convicted of smuggling 4.8 kilograms of cocaine into the resort island of Bali. - Sapa-dpa

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