Policemen take five suspected drug traffickers to jail in a police station in Bangkok
Policemen take five suspected drug traffickers to jail in a police station in Bangkok April 30. Two Chinese and three Thais were caught hours before shipping 15.4 kilos of heroin to Australia. The drug was found concealed in pottery. From L: Wang Zhenping, 35, Li Zhijian, 23, both from China, and Thailand's Hati Saeyang, 25, Hati Saewu, 34 and Hasue Saeyang, 35. Drug traffickers face the death penalty in Thailand if found guilty. Reuters

Sydney woman Kalynda Davis, who had been facing a possible death sentence in China over drug trafficking, was released. Chinese authorities did not charge Davis who returned to Australia.

The 22-year-old waited for a couple of weeks in China where she could have faced life sentence. According to her friends, Davis is brash and hot-headed. They said that her life had an abrupt change in a very short period of time. David was eventually accused of trying to smuggle 36 kg of ice out of Guangzhou International Airport to Australia. She was accompanied by her co-accused New Zealander Peter Gardiner, whom she had met through the dating app Tinder only two weeks before the incident. Davis, who has her home in Penrith, is the daughter of a former NSW police officer. She did not inform anyone when she travelled in November. However, she told her friends that they should consider something must have gone wrong if they did not hear from her.

Things did go wrong for Davis who was intercepted by Chinese authorities at the airport. According to the authorities, Gardiner was recruited by an organised crime syndicate in Sydney. Daily Telegraph reported that the drug, which the pair had tried to smuggle had a street value of around $80 million. Gardiner, who also has an Australian passport, did not have any prior criminal records Down Under just like Davis who was also declared to be "clean skin" before this. Davis is a student of Penrith Christian School while she studied at Penrith Anglican College earlier. A talented athlete, Davis worked part-time in retail.

ABC News earlier reported that the pair was not likely to appear in China court at least for a few months. The prospects of the Davis and Gardiner getting away with what they did was "very slim," if similar cases in recent times were taken into consideration. A Chinese customs officer said that there was a possibility that some other people had also been involved in the smuggling. China has extremely strict laws against drug trafficking as there is possible death penalty or a lengthy jail term.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au