FRENCH DRUG SMUGGLER GETS DEATH SENTENCE

JAKARTA (IO) — Denpasar District Court yesterday sentenced French national
Michael Blanc (27) to death for smuggling 3.85 kilograms of hashish into Bali.

Blanc, who was accompanied in court by his interpreter Jean Cauteau from
France, looked pale as the verdict was announced. His parents Jean Claude
and Hellen stood up and embraced him.

Antara reported that from Denpasar that the panel of judges led by Ni Wayan
Mariati found the Frenchman guilty of smuggling and possession.

Blanc, who holds a tourist visa, arrived at Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar
on a Garuda flight from India on December 26, 1999, after a stopover in
Bangkok.

At 3:25 p.m. he tried to leave the airport through the international
arrivals gate but customs officials put his bags through an X-ray machine
and detected "strange objects" in one of them. Customs officials opened the
suspicious bag. Inside were two diving oxygen tanks that contained the hash.

Blanc, who is a chef by trade, confessed to police he had obtained the
drugs in Bangkok and planned to sell them in Bali.

He was found guilty of violating Article 82 of the 1997 law on psychotropic
substances. The harsh law carries the death penalty.

Blanc's lawyers Dwi Surya Hadibudi and R.H. Ferdinandus plan to appeal
against the sentence at the Bali High Court.

Locals said it was the first ever death sentence in Bali for a drug dealer.

"This sets a good precedence and should discourage drug smugglers,
especially foreigners, from bringing drugs into Bali province," said senior
lawyer Victor Yaved Neno who observed the trial.

About 10 people have been sentenced to death this year for possession and
smuggling of drugs, but none have yet been executed.