DENPASAR, Indonesia — Two British nationals have been handed lengthy prison sentences after being convicted of smuggling cocaine into Bali.
Kial Garth Robinson, 29, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while Paul Ezra Wilkinson, 48, received a nine-year term. The court also ordered both men to pay a fine of approximately US$60,000 each or face an additional 190 days in jail.
Robinson was arrested in September last year at Bali’s international airport after authorities discovered two packages containing 1.3 kilograms of cocaine in his backpack.
During the investigation, Robinson told police he had been instructed by a man identified as “Santos” to transport the drugs from Barcelona to Bali and deliver them to Wilkinson, who had arrived on the island several days earlier.
Wilkinson was arrested the following day in Canggu. Prosecutors stated that the two men were friends living in Thailand and had met in Barcelona about a week before their arrests.
Indonesia enforces some of the world’s strictest drug laws, including the death penalty for traffickers. Although executions have not been carried out since 2016, dozens of convicted drug offenders remain on death row.
