Supreme Court turns down Englishman’s appeal

The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of an English man found guilty of smuggling 3.1 kg of crystal methamphetamine into Bali. The decision upholds the 20-year jail term for the defendant, Khuram Antonio Khan Garcia.

The decision was made by a three-member panel of justices, R. Imam Harjadi, Surya Jaya and Hatta Ali, late in December 2011, antaranews.com reported on Monday.

Garcia flew to Bali on Qatar Airways from Doha and was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport upon his arrival on Nov.11, 2010 after the authorities found drugs worth Rp 6 billion in his luggage.

The Denpasar District Court found him guilty and sentenced him to 20 years in jail. He was also told to pay a Rp 1 billion fine or serve an additional year on his existing jail term.

The Bali High Court later upheld the sentence.

The potential buyer, Yan Zacharia, who came to fetch the Rp 6 billion in drugs, was also arrested and sentenced to 18 years in jail.

Garcia had earlier said that the drugs belonged to a man named Beny, who had asked him to bring them from Cameron to Bali. He received 3,000 British pounds for the service.