Drugs mule Lindsay Sandiford could walk straight back into jail
After twelve years on death row for drug trafficking in Bali, 69-year-old Lindsay Sandiford has been released from Kerobokan Prison. She was seen leaving the facility in a wheelchair after serving her sentence for attempting to smuggle £1.6 million worth of cocaine from Bangkok into Indonesia.
Her release, however, may not mean full freedom. Indonesian officials suggested that upon her return to Britain, Sandiford could face imprisonment once again for her involvement in international drug smuggling.
“In England, she will remain in prison,” said Indonesia’s deputy minister for immigration and correctional coordination, I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, speaking to the Mirror.
The British Foreign Office has not yet confirmed or denied this statement. Sandiford departed her cell around 2 p.m. GMT, accompanied by 35-year-old British inmate Shahab Shahabadi, who had been serving a life sentence for drug offences.
Both prisoners were briefly introduced to local reporters before being transferred to British diplomatic staff at Denpasar International Airport. Wearing a face mask and attempting to avoid the media’s attention, Sandiford boarded a Qatar Airways flight to London via Doha.
The same airport was the site of her 2012 arrest, when she was publicly displayed in prison attire next to a table piled with confiscated cocaine.
Author’s summary
Lindsay Sandiford, a British woman freed after 12 years on Bali’s death row for cocaine smuggling, may face renewed imprisonment upon returning to the UK.