A 56-year-old British woman Lindsay Sandiford has been arrested in Bali for allegedly smuggling cocaine worth £1.6 million in her luggage.

Customs official Made Wijaya said that Lindsay Sandiford arrived on a flight from Bangkok on May 19 with 4.7kg of cocaine in her suitcase. Three other British nationals and an Indian national, believed to be the intended recipients, are being questioned by police.  Lindsay Sandiford, 55, originally from Redcar, covered her face as she was taken out to face the media at a press conference in Kuta, a holiday town on the Indonesian island.

Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and convicted smugglers are executed, with the crime carrying a maximum penalty of death by firing squad.

Sandiford was stopped with the 4.7kg haul in a suitcase as she arrived in at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport on a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok in Thailand on May 19, according to customs official Made Wijaya. Three other Brits and an Indian national were believed to be the intended recipients and are being questioned.

“This is a big international network,” Wijaya is quoted as saying. “We are working hard to stop these type of international smugglers bringing their drugs into Bali and harming our people. “If this woman, and anyone else who is subsequently charged, is found guilty, the punishment will be the death penalty.”

More than 140 people are on death row in the country, a third of them foreigners.

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