A BRIT faces the death penalty in Bali, accused of trafficking 1.3kg of cocaine worth £300,000 into the party island.
He is the second British tourist to appear in a Denpasar District Court this past week facing possible execution by firing squad for drug smuggling.
Piran Ezra Wilkinson (front) is charged with two counts of possessing Class A drugsCredit: ViralPress
Wilkinson (left) will appear in court this weekCredit: ViralPress
Piran Ezra Wilkinson, 48, from Chichester, West Sussex is charged with two counts of possessing Class A drugs and one count of being involved in the sale of drugs.
has some of the world’s harshest penalties for drug traffickers, and two of the charges against Wilkinson carry a maximum sentence of the death penalty.
Wilkinson, a property manager, is accused of being part of a cocaine smuggling ring where 1.3kg of the drug was allegedly transported into Indonesia on September 3.
Fellow Brit, Kial Robinson, 29, of Littlehampton, West Sussex also appeared in a Bali court last week on three similar charges of importing drugs.
Two of the charges against him also carry a maximum penalty of death by execution.
Indonesian prosecutor Made Dipa Umbara told the court that Wilkinson was arrested at a luxury villa, near the party district of Canggu, on September 4.
“He was arrested at 2.30am after receiving two plastic packages containing cocaine with a total weight of 1,343.67 grams gross or 1,321 grams net,” Mr Umbara said.
The arrest was the result of a sting operation where police lured Wilkinson out of the villa when Robinson, a landscape gardener, knocked on his door to deliver the drugs as arranged.
The previous night, police arrested Robinson at Bali’s international airport when customs officials uncovered 1.32kg of cocaine during a routine search of his black Samsonite backpack.
He had arrived on a flight from via .
Robinson told cops the scheme had been planned during a meeting in Barcelona with Wilkinson and another man called Santos.
He said Santos gave him £2280 in cryptocurrency to cover his travel costs to Indonesia, and he was promised a further £3600 in crypto once the job was completed.
Today (Tues), Wilkinson appeared before a panel of three judges.
Both Wilkinson and Robinson, who are being tried separately, were charged with importing narcotics under Article 113 of Indonesia’s deadly narcotics laws.
The trial continues next week.
The two accused Brits have joined a line-up of travellers caught up in drug smuggling.
In July, when they were found guilty of couriering nearly a kilo of cocaine concealed in a packet of Angel Delight dessert into Bali.
On the same day, another Brit, Elliot James Shaw and his Argentinian girlfriend Eleonora Gracia, were each given six years in prison for running 244 grams of cocaine into the island.
Bali is a lucrative market for drug dealers.
Cocaine costs upward of £200-£500 a gram in Bali compared to London’s street price of £50 a gram.
Just 250 grams of cocaine can net a dealer about £50,000 rather than £6,000 in London or .
Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency (BNN) recently admitted that Bali is now a serious destination for international drug trafficking.
“International crime syndicates use crypto currency and blockchain tech for drug trafficking in Bali. They are making anonymous financial transactions through tech.
“These cartels target Bali’s young and wealthy visitor population,” the agency said.
Indonesia carries some of the toughest penalties for drug traffickersCredit: ViralPress
Wilkinson is the second British national to stand trial for drug charges this week
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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