84-year-old could face firing squad in Bali drugs case

An 84-year-old man could face death by firing squad for smuggling crystal methamphetamine worth more than US$400,000 into the Indonesian resort island of Bali, an official said Monday.

Arsain Anwar, an Indonesian national who lives in Malaysia, was arrested on Friday with 2.5 kilograms of the drug in his luggage, airport customs chief I Made Wijaya said.

Under Indonesia's tough anti-drugs laws, he could face the death penalty if convicted of smuggling that quantity of drugs, he said.

However Arsain has claimed he had no idea he was transporting drugs and was paid only RM200 (US$62) to carry a package, the official said.

"He said that someone he knew asked him to deliver the package and that he thought it was full of clothes," Wijaya told AFP.

According to Wijaya, Arsain said he only accepted the money because his wife was ill and he needed to cover medical costs.

Arsain, who is originally from East Java province in western Indonesia but had been working in Malaysia for 30 years as a car washer, arrived in Bali on a Malindo Air flight from Kuala Lumpur, said the official.

The drugs have a street value of five billion rupiah (US$440,000), said Wijaya. He added that customs officials received intelligence that Arsain may be carrying drugs before his arrest.

"There was another man implicated in a suspected ring on the flight, but he slipped past customs. Police are searching for him," he said.

Several foreign convicted traffickers are in jail in Bali, including British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford.

She was sentenced to death last year after being caught at the island's airport with US$2.4 million worth of cocaine in her luggage.