Brazilian Citizen Woman Carrying 3.6 Kg Of Cocaine To Bali Demanded 12 Years In Prison

DENPASAR - The Public Prosecutor (JPU) of the Badung District Attorney demanded 12 years in prison for a Brazilian citizen named Manuela Victoria De Araujo Farias (19) who brought cocaine to Bali weighing 3.6 kilograms.

"The sentence against the defendant in prison for 12 years is reduced while the defendant is in detention," said Prosecutor Dewa Gede Ari Kusumajaya at the Denpsang District Court, Bali, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, May 23.

In addition, the defendant is required to pay a fine of Rp. 1 billion or if the defendant is unable to pay it, he can be replaced with a prison sentence of two years. The prosecutor also requested that the defendant be detained.

Prosecutors said that apart from carrying cocaine, the defendant also brought psychotropic clones weighing 0.72 grams from Brazil to Bali.

Therefore, the Public Prosecutor asked the Denpasar District Court Judges who examined and tried the case to decide and declare the defendant MVDAF legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing narcotics and psychotropic crimes.

Ari stated that the defendant MVDAF without rights or against the law of importing, exporting, or distributing narcotics class I and exporting or importing psychotropic substances as stated in Article 113 paragraph (2) of Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics and Article 61 paragraph (1) letter a of Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 5 of 1997 concerning Psychotropics.

After the prosecutor read out his demands, the judge who tried the case gave the defendant's attorney a week to file a memorandum of defense.

Furthermore, the trial will be held on May 30, 2023 at the Denpasar District Court with the agenda of reading a memorandum of defense.

The judge also asked that the defendant be presented at the trial when the defendant read out his pledoi.

Previously, the case of smuggling cocaine involving Brazilians was revealed to the public by the Bali Regional Police. During a press conference session on January 27, 2023, Bali Police Chief Inspector General Pol. Putu Jayan Danu Putra said MVDAF was arrested on January 1, 2023.

Putu Jayan said the disclosure of the case began with the Ngurah Rai Customs and Excise officer who suspected a Brazilian woman who arrived using a Qatar Airways plane at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport. At that time, officers checked the two suitcases that the woman had brought from her country.

During the examination, in the first suitcase, officers found two packages of cocaine packaging, each with a net weight of about 990 grams and 637 grams.

Meanwhile, in the second suitcase, three packages of cocaine were found, each with a net weight of 891 grams, 711 grams, and 379 grams.

The overall weight of the cocaine-type narcotics brought by Brazilians was 3,950 grams gross or 3,608 grams net and psychotropic type cloneazepam weighing 1.63 grams gross or 0.72 grams net.

Meanwhile, the Director of Drug Investigation (Dirresnarkoba) of the Bali Police, Kombes Iwan Eka Putra, stated that the Brazilian woman was used by a drug network in his country. He did not know that the prohibited items were in his suitcase.

Interested in going to school at a surfing school by her colleague, the woman was desperate to bring two suitcases containing narcotics to be brought to a dealer in Bali.

However, before the goods were given to the dealer in Bali, the person concerned had already been arrested by the police.