A 42-year-old Indonesian man was jailed for 25 years and ordered to receive 15 strokes of the cane by a Singapore court on Monday after he pleaded guilty to carrying pellets of methamphetamine inside his body during a transit flight via Changi Airport last year.
At 5:30am on March 23, 2016, Adri Anton Kalangie was intercepted by a customer service officer, who advised him not to smoke at Terminal 2 in Changi Airport, Lianhe Zaobao reported.
Kalangie, who was traveling from Guangzhou, China, and heading to Jakarta, Indonesia, via Singapore, also appeared to be very drunk and confused as he kept telling the officer not to beat him up.
The officer confirmed that the Indonesian man missed his Singapore Airlines flight connecting to Jakarta and had spent two days in the transit hall, so he brought Kalangie to the counter and issued him a new ticket for free.
The man was getting emotional, bursting into tears and apologizing repeatedly. By the time he arrived at the departure gate, Kalangie, pointing to his stomach and shoes, told the officer that he was in possession of drugs, the court heard.
An X-ray inspection showed 39 pellets of methamphetamine retained intact inside his colon. Another four were recovered from his shoes and trousers, resulting a total of 43 drug capsules, or no more than 249.99 grams, with an estimated street value of S$62,495 (US$45,678), The Straits Times reported.
Kalangie told the authorities he had been motivated by financial circumstances – a Nigerian drug syndicate leader paid him 10 million rupiah (US$751) for each delivery from China to Indonesia.
According to Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau, any person who illegally traffics, imports or exports more than 250 grams of methamphetamine may face the death penalty.