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A Malaysian man on Monday was sentenced to life in prison for trafficking over 3 kilograms of methamphetamine, the Antara news agency reported.
Chow Kit Nang, also known as Cow, was found guilty of smuggling in 3.17 kilograms of methamphetamine in West Nusa Tenggara, south-central Indonesia. He was arrested at the Selaparang airport in November 2010.
Customs officers at the airport detected a suspicious image on the X-Ray Scanner while the bag of Chow was being analyzed. The law agents stopped the defendant and discovered five aluminum foiled packages.
The packages were concealed on the wall of the bag and customs officers determined that they contained quality methamphetamine. The 3.17 kilograms are worth an estimated Rp 6 billion ($700,000).
Chow, 50, was questioned by law enforcement agents before being booked. He arrived to Mataram on the island of Lombok from Malaysia. The trial began last February at the Mataram District Court.
Indonesia imposes severe sentences on drug traffickers, including life imprisonment and death penalty. Currently, there are two Australian nationals on death row for smuggling over 8 kilograms of heroin in 2005.
Indonesian saleslady moonlighting as a drug mule for the West African Drug Syndicate (WADS) was arrested upon arrival at the NAIA last week after K-9 dogs sniffed out some three kilos of methamphetamines, a component in making shabu, hidden in her luggage.
Media Aprideri, 28, was presented by the NBI in a press conference yesterday, attended by Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Aprideri yielded three blocks of high grade methamphetamines from Ethiopia worth an estimated P17 million.
Ross Jonathan Galicia, NBI-Reaction Arrest and Interdiction Division chief, said the suspect, who arrived on May 19, managed to pass through the NAIA’s sophisticated x-ray machine without the illegal substance being discovered, but K-9 dogs were able to detect the contraband.
"Thank God for the sniffing dogs. If not for them, Aprideri would have not been arrested. The shabu coming from Africa is of a higher grade and uniform grain and is even cheaper than that produced locally. The contraband passes through several transit points to avoid detection," said Galicia.
Aprideri was arrested through the joint operation of the NBI and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency working on the information that a suspected drug mule, who was on her way back to Indonesia from Ethiopia, was to arrive in the country that day.
The illegal drugs, wrapped in packaging tape then sealed in an envelope, were stashed in a hidden pocket of Aprideri’s luggage.
"The suspect did not deny that she was carrying illegal drugs when she was being investigated," Galicia said.
Binay said members of WADS have temporarily stopped using Filipinos as drug mules due to the recent execution of three Filipinos in China as well as the intensified operations of PDEA and NBI against the syndicate
Thai police have arrested an alleged kingpin in what could be the country's largest tiger trafficking ring, a wildlife protection group said Sunday.
Sudjai Chanthawong, a Thai national, was detained on Saturday in the northeastern town of Udon Thani by undercover officers of the nature crime division, according to the Freeland Foundation, which supported the operation.
The gang he is accused of protecting and financing was thought last year "to be responsible for moving up to 1,000 tigers and leopards across the border into Laos and Vietnam in the past decade," Freeland said in a statement.
Sudjai was arrested after police confirmed his bank account was used by the ring to accept payment from undercover officers for the sale of a live tiger last year -- a deal that led to the arrest last May of two other Thai men.
"Thai police are to be congratulated for following the money and finding one of the kingpins involved in cross border wildlife trafficking," said Freeland director Steve Galster.
Sudjai was brought to Bangkok for further questioning on Sunday, while the live tiger that he helped to sell last year, now known as Sylvia, was brought to a police news conference in the capital.
Sylvia, sold in the sting operation as a cub, now weighs almost 100 kilograms (220 pounds) and is kept in a special national park facility caring for seized wildlife in western Ratchaburi province, Freeland told AFP.
Earlier this month, Thailand's nature crime police arrested a man whose luggage contained a baby bear, a pair of panthers, two leopards and some monkeys -- all alive -- that he was trying to smuggle out of the country.
The United Arab Emirates national was detained at Bangkok's main airport, attempting to fly first-class to Dubai with the young creatures in his cases.
TOBACCO industry claims that international crime gangs are flooding Australia with smuggled cigarettes, or ''chop chop'', are being investigated by the competition watchdog.
But the allegations have been emphatically denied by Customs and Border Protection.
The claims are part of a campaign against the Gillard government's plan to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes, which is expected to culminate in a constitutional challenge in the High Court of Australia.
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British American Tobacco Australia chief executive David Crow warned last week that plain cigarette packets would provide a ''field day'' for organised criminals, who had profited from a 150 per cent increase in illegal tobacco in Australia over the past three years.
But Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor, who is responsible for customs, accused the powerful tobacco lobby of scaremongering to protect its commercial interests.
''It is baseless to claim that one in six smokers [is] consuming illegally imported tobacco,'' Mr O'Connor said.
''Big tobacco regularly quotes from reports that it commissions itself - rather than the independent research - because independent research does not back its claims.''
He referred to the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey that found only 0.2 per cent of the population, about 33,000 people, used illegal tobacco products more than half the time they smoked.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has said he would support any move to curb smoking rates, but he has refused to back the government's proposal. ''My anxiety with this [plain packaging proposal] is that it may end up being counterproductive in practice,'' he said.
But Liberal MP Mal Washer broke ranks with his leader when contacted by The Sunday Age last week. Dr Washer, who spent 26 years as a medical practitioner before moving into federal politics, gave a blunt assessment of the tobacco industry's strategy.
''All this talk of chop chop and crime gangs sounds like bullshit to me. The tobacco industry is jumping up and down because they're worried about their businesses. I support these reforms unequivocally and whatever my party decides to do, I don't give a shit,'' Dr Washer said.
He said smoking killed about 19,000 Australians each year, and governments had a moral responsibility to implement any measure that could stop young people from taking up the habit.
The Alliance of Australian Retailers, set up and funded by Australia's three biggest tobacco firms, recently ran nationwide ads that claimed more children would smoke illegal tobacco if plain packaging was introduced.
Anti-cancer groups have asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate the campaign, which was branded ''misleading and deceptive'', by Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie.
Ms Sharkie said the AAR should focus on its own members who have been caught selling cigarettes to minors. A Melbourne City Council inspection found almost a third of inner-city tobacco retailers sold cigarettes to children.
The AAR's Craig Glasby defended the ads, saying the federal government's own survey indicated some teenagers ''have smoked unbranded tobacco''. He said plain packaging would make it easier for crime gangs to produce counterfeit packs.
Iran has hanged seven convicted drug traffickers and four convicted rapists, three of them publicly, Iranian media reported on Saturday.
One man found guilty of drug smuggling was sent to the gallows in a prison in the northern town of Tonekabon, the Kayhan newspaper reported.
Another four convicted traffickers were hanged in the southern city of Kerman, the Khorasan newspaper reported.
And a further two were hanged on Saturday in a prison in the city of Qazvin near the capital Tehran, the Fars news agency reported.
Four men convicted of rape were executed in the central city of Yazd, one in prison and three in public, Fars added.
Possession of more than 30 grammes (just over an ounce) of narcotics is punishable by death in Iran, as are murder, rape, armed robbery and adultery.
The latest hangings bring to 124 the number of executions reported in Iran so far in 2011, according to an AFP count based on media and official reports.
Iranian media reported 179 hangings last year. But international human rights groups say the actual number was much higher, making the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people it put to death.
Iran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order, and that it is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.
Siviwe Luma was arrested by UK Border Agency officers after he arrived at Felixstowe docks as part of the crew on a container ship travelling from Africa.
The 34-year-old South African national appeared before magistrates at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court in Ipswich accused of two offences.
Prosecutor Lesla Small outlined brief details about the allegations during the first hearing of the case.
The court heard Luma was charged with two counts of importing a Class A drug.
The total weight of the drugs involved was said to be six kilogrammes.
Luma is expected to face a trial after denying the importation charges.
He was remanded in custody until his next appearance via a video link before the same court on May 19.
It is expected there will be a further hearing on July 8 when the case is expected to be committed to Ipswich Crown Court.
UK Border Agency (UKBA) officials have confirmed they arrested Luma after three kilos of cocaine were alleged to have been discovered in a rucksack.
The remaining three kilos are alleged to have been found on the ship.
The value of the drugs is said to be estimated at £400,000.
Luma was detained at around 12.35pm on Wednesday.
The ship is understood to have originally begun its journey to Felixstowe from West Africa.
It is alleged the cocaine haul was discovered following searches of the ship and crew.
After his arrest Luma was taken to Ipswich police station for questioning.
He was remanded into custody until his appearance before Ipswich magistrates on Friday.
