Aussie Grandma Could Be Facing Death Penalty In Malaysia Over Drug Offence

A smiling Australian grandmother could be facing the death penalty in Malaysia soon. 52-year-old Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto is feared to be following the tragic fate of Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran after being arrested for drug trafficking.

The mother of four was arrested on December 7 at a Kuala Lumpur airport just as she was about to exit the premises. She flew from Shanghai on that day, and would be catching a connecting flight to Melbourne on Malaysian Airlines. However, according to court documents, she was found carrying 1.1 kg of crystal methamphetamine, or the drug known as ice.

On Thursday, a prosecutor confirmed that the substance found in Exposto’s bag was “ice,” based on a chemist’s report. Magistrate Noor Hafizah Salim has then ordered her case to be transferred to the high court. In Malaysia, the law has a mandatory death penalty by hanging for offenders carrying more than 50 grams of drugs.

Her lawyers, headed by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, will argue for her innocence. According to the defence, Exposto was a victim of an online-based crime syndicate. She flew to China to meet a man claiming to be a U.S. serviceman, whom she met through an online romance scam. She was apparently duped into carrying a bag by a stranger in Shanghai, who requested that she take it to Melbourne. She thought the bag contained only clothing.

To prove that she wasn’t aware of the bag’s drug content, her lawyers said she was willing to put the bag through a security scanner at the airport without being asked by the customs officials. As her stay in Malaysia was only through a connecting flight to Melbourne, she could have just stayed in the airport’s transit areas without having the pass by the security checkpoint. Instead, she willingly went through it.

“Yes (I am innocent),” the Sydney grandma told AFP with a smile as she was being led out of the detention room in handcuffs. No date has been set for her hearing at the high court yet. Her lawyers believe her trial could begin later in 2015.

Her case is eerily similar to Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, who was spared from execution at the 11^th hour early Wednesday morning. She maintained she did not know the bag that was handed to her had 2.6kg of heroin sewn inside. The drugs were discovered in an Indonesian airport in 2010.

While Veloso was spared, Australians Chan and Sukumaran were not. The Bali Nine ringleaders and eight other foreigners and Indonesian drug offenders were killed by firing squad in Nusakambangan Island on Wednesday.

Contact the writer: a.lu@ibtimes.com.au