Yet another British drug smuggler in Indonesia

[hellokittymania]

m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24925766

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Zero sympathy from me. They know what they're doing, know the penalties, think it's worth taking the risk for some ready cash and then we have to endure their mournful self-pitying faces on the news complaining that the Indonesians/Thais/Malaysians are being very harsh or they were 'coerced'.

[carlajean]

No sympathy from me either

[SilverOldie]

I feel as much sympathy for them as they have for the people whose lives could have been destroyed had the drugs got through undetected - so zero.

[mrswarbouys]

Sorry for long post....
I was travelling once from Australia via Indonesia. I got chatting to a Swiss woman on the plane who seemed very nice and lots of fun. We got along well. We had the same 48 hr stop-over in Jakarta and she suggested we shared a hotel room there to save money, I agreed. It all went fine. So we're checking in for our flight back to London from Jakarta and she was stood behind me in the queue with her rucksack. Suddenly just before it was my turn to check my rucksack in she dashed off to get some cig's, so she said. I thought it a little odd, why now? Anyway I lugged my r-sack in front of me to check it in and someone shoved the Swiss woman's r-sack forward. I cou;have been concentrating fully as the check in person started tagging both r-sacks, I realised and told her it wasn't mine. I had to shout it a little louder as she didn't seem to understand me. Then everybody, incl' gun-toting security guards seemed to look my way. I was terrified for a moment or two just thinking about what the hell had almost happened. I had to say again 'it isn't mine.'.. I can't remember what happened after that, I think the Swiss came back claimed it, took it through and all was well. I do remember bollocking her in departures. We didn't speak again.

Point is - If that can happen to me and I was far from naive back then. It could happen that someone who was feeling a bit ill, nervous of flying, had too much sun etc, could by accident take someones goods through customs. It could happen.

I know how you feel, it does seem straightforward, a smuggler has been collared and now wants our sympathy. However without all the facts of the situation I really wouldn't like to judge.

[carlajean]

Why have you just posted a link OP? Usually posters make some kind of comment themselves, it feels like an exam question, or are you a journalist looking for copy?

[nancy75]

The woman is 43 years old and worked for the police - she hardly falls in to the daft kid category. Everyone knows what happens if you get caught smuggling drugs in those countries.

[hellokittymania]

Sorry, new at this. I am definitelh not a journalist

Buoys, good point. Many travellers join up and you never really know if someone is good or bad. When you're thousands of miles from home you have to trust people.

I see many backpackers in their teens going to Kao San road, Phan Ngu Lao etc and drinking, doing other things and thinking they are invincible.

Then they get caught....

[Morloth]

hellokittymania 'When you're thousands of miles from home you have to trust people.'

Really? I have always found being cynical and suspicious helpful when travelling.

[hellokittymania]

Morloth, on my first day back in the UK I got extremely lost in London. I couldn't find the supermarket, forgot my money after a shop assistant helped me for one hour, nearly got hit by a bus on my way back to the hostel to get my money. On my second trip to the shop, I met a lady who offered to drive me there. She took me to her house for lunch and spent the afternoon at RNIB with me. You do need to take precautions, but there are times when you just have to trust others. Sometimes, yyou meet lovely people, like I did that day.

[Morloth]

Nope. Never in all my travels would I get in a car with a random.

I don't trust others.