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

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Thai-woman-gets-death-sentence-for-drug-traffickin-30142719.html

Junta blocks vehicles with anti-drug stickers

The KIO publicly announced the renewal of its “War against Drugs” on October 5, setting October 15 as the deadline for a complete ban on all forms of drugs in Kachin State, and its territories in Northern Shan State.

The announcement included a warning to drug users, producers, smugglers and distributors that harsh penalties, including the death penalty, are now in place against anyone breaching KIO anti-drug laws.

http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1767-junta-blocks-vehicles-with-anti-drug-stickers.html

Indonesia concludes Australian drug smuggler Scott Rush's final hearing

The president has previously shown little mercy to death row drug convicts, although he regularly reduces sentences for corrupt officials.

I'm not usually inclined to include these personal interest stories. However, the above line caught my eye and made me smile.

None of this takes anything away from the fact that prisons in Indonesia are appalling and Mr Rush will be joining the many Indonesians and overseas nationals that languish in them. Families of detained Indonesian people will be rallying around to raise money to secure the most basic necessities for their family members in often far-away prisons.

(See: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-prisons-pamper-the-rich/352166 ; http://www.indonesiamatters.com/9687/indonesian-prisons/ )