Elliot Shaw, from Watford, was allegedly handed 244 grams of cocaine – the same weight as an iPhone – by his Argentine partner Eleonora Gracia, 46, at a hotel near a tourist beach in Indonesia
A 50-year-old British man accused of smuggling cocaine in Bali has been told he could face the firing squad if found guilty. Elliot Shaw, from Watford, was allegedly handed 244 grams of cocaine – the same weight as an iPhone – by his Argentinian partner Eleonora Gracia, 46, at a hotel near a tourist beach in Indonesia.
According to prosecutors, Gracia, was arrested in March at Bali’s International Airport with the Class A drug wrapped in a condom hidden in her vagina. It is alleged she handed over the cocaine to Shaw as part of a smuggling plot. The pair, who wore face masks as they sat next to each other at the District Court in Denpasar, are accused of violating strict drug laws.
If convicted, they could face up to 12 years in prison. After a panel of three judges read out the charges, the trial was adjourned until July 3. A verdict is expected next month.
The prosecutor told the court: “The defendant has attempted or conspired to illegally import type A narcotics in the form of cocaine weighing 244.07 grams.”
Shaw confessed that he had waited for Gracia to receive the drugs package. The court head: “The officers then searched Shaw’s room and found two packages containing 244.07 grams of cocaine in the closet.
“Also 3.09 grams and 0.67 grams of cocaine in Shaw’s backpack.”
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.
Indonesian authorities on Monday arrested 285 people suspected of drug trafficking, including 29 women and seven foreigners, and seized over half a ton of narcotics during a two-month crackdown.
About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data showed last month. Indonesia’s last executions, of a citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
Shaw is the fourth Brit to come before a Bali court on cocaine trafficking charges in recent weeks. Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, stands accused of drug-smuggling, along with fellow Brits Lisa Ellen Stocker, 29, and her boyfriend Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 28.
The trio are on trial in the Bali capital Denpasar, and if found guilty, could be sentenced to execution by firing squad.
Float has been held in a Bali prison for the last four months, following his arrest in early February. His alleged accomplices, Stocker, from Gillingham in Kent, and Collyer were arrested together on Saturday, February 1. They had landed at Denpasar International Airport and were stopped at customs.