Kateryna Vakarova, from Ukraine, was caught going through an airport in Bali carrying 4.4lbs of a designer drug, according to Indonesian authorities and she could face the death penalty
A 21-year-old woman could face a firing squad after being “caught bringing 4.4lbs of a designer drug” into Bali.
Kateryna Vakarova, from Odesa, Ukraine was detained as she arrived by plane to the holiday island in Indonesia and images have shown her looking distraught after her arrest. The country has some of the world’s toughest drugs laws, which can include execution by firing squad. She is accused of trafficking large amounts of narcotics which is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Vakarova was stopped by Bali Customs in cooperation with Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency (BNN) earlier this month but her case was not immediately disclosed.
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The authorities said officers became suspicious of her “behaviour” at the international arrivals terminal of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport. A scan of her luggage showed packages hidden among her personal belongings, said reports. A physical search confirmed the presence of crystalline substances later identified through laboratory testing as 4-CMC – or 4-Chloromethcathinone.
“This type of narcotic is relatively new in Indonesia, and its circulation is dangerous because it is designed to evade existing drug laws,” said BNN Chief Brig. Gen. Gde Sugianyar Dwi Putra.
Vakarova “admitted she was transporting the drugs for distribution in Bali, primarily targeting foreign tourists at entertainment venues,” reported the Bali Times citing law enforcement.
“She allegedly acted under instructions from contacts overseas, pointing to the involvement of a transnational drug syndicate”. The Indonesian authorities are “coordinating with Interpol and foreign law enforcement to track the network’s operations”. Executions are carried out by a firing squad of a dozen shooters.
Although capital punishment may now feel like a distant memory for those living in the UK, it is still practised in various countries, including Saudi Arabia, China, Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the US.
Back in March, a South Carolina man made headlines after becoming the first American in 15 years to be executed via firing squad. Brad Sigmon, 67, chose death by firing squad over the two other state-approved methods of execution: electric chair and lethal injection, telling witnesses that he wished his final statement “to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty”.
In the US, as explained by the Death Penalty Information Centre, death by firing squad typically involved the condemned individual being bound to a chair fastened with leather straps across the waist and head, facing an oval-shaped canvas wall. Sandbags are placed around the chair to absorb any blood, while a black hood is positioned over the inmate’s head before the punishment commences.