Thai woman to be hanged for drug trafficking in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur -- Malaysia's High Court has sentenced a Thai woman to death by hanging after she was caught with 98 capsules of cocaine in her stomach, a news report said Friday.

Phrueksa Taemchim, 26, was detained by antinarcotics police at a bus stop in July last year, shortly after her arrival on a flight from Buenos Aires.

During an Xray examination at the hospital, police discovered the mother of one had swallowed the drug capsules in an effort to smuggle them back to Thailand, the Star newspaper reported.

The court handed down the death sentence on Thursday.

Despite Malaysia's tough drug laws, an increasing number of foreign drug smugglers have been detained in recent years.

In the first nine months of 2010, 382 foreigners were arrested for suspected drug trafficking, a 70percent increase over the same period last year, government records showed.

Authorities say smuggling is rampant as the country is used as a transit point to channel the drugs to neighbouring Southeast Asian nations.//DPA

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