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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Indonesia: East Java woman arrested at Bali airport with 10,000 ecstasy pills

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Security was not fooled by a woman stopped at Bali's airport last Thursday with nearly 10,000 pills in her hand luggage.

East Java woman, Stefani Anindia Hadi, tried to say she was carrying medicine for headaches when officers in the airport's domestic terminal pulled out the suspicious quantity of pills packed in to 4 large plastic bags from her carry-on.

After some prodding, the 25-year-old, who had been flying in from Palembang, Sumatra, apparently confessed that the pills were actually ecstasy.

Head of the Bali division of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), Brig. Gen. I Putu Gede Suastawa explained that Hadi was arrested after a tip from BNN South Sumatra, that there was a passenger on Garuda Indonesia flight GA 266 flying from Palembang to Denpasar with a huge quantity of drugs in hand.

"After searching, the evidence was obtained from a carry-on bag. Based on calculations from there, there were 9,675 ecstasy pills," Suastawa said on Friday, as quoted by Tribun Bali.

Following Hadi's arrest, BNN officers moved to track down the recipient of the smuggled drugs, eventually arresting Sukron Wardana, 27, at a hotel in Kuta.

Both Hadi and Wardana are originally from Banyuwangi, East Java, Suastawa told reporters.

After searching Wardana's home in Kerobokan, officers did not find any narcotics and say they are still hunting the person who ordered Sukron to take the pills brought in by Hadi.

This was not Hadi's 1st time playing the mule in a drug operation, says Suastawa.

Last March, the woman was given Rp 40 million to carry drugs into Bali, which apparently went through without a hitch.

But it only takes getting caught once for the blossoming career of a courier to get derailed. Police have not yet publicly announced if Hadi has been charged, but those caught trafficking class I narcotics in Indonesia, such as ecstasy, could get a life sentence in prison with a hefty fine - or more extreme, the death penalty.

Hadi's arrest comes after popular Denpasar nightclub Akasaka was raided earlier this month. Police found Rp 10 billion worth of ecstasy pills on the premises.

Source: coconuts.co, June 13, 2017

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Location: Bali, Indonesia
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