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.