An Australian woman allegedly caught with the drug ice in Malaysia is likely a naive victim of an unscrupulous drug ring, her lawyer says.
Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, reportedly a mother of four from Sydney, was allegedly caught with 1.5kg of crystal methamphetamine while transiting through Kuala Lumpur from Shanghai to Melbourne.
Under Malaysia's tough regime, the 51-year-old faces a mandatory death penalty if found guilty of trafficking.
A Kuala Lumpur court extended her remand on Sunday, a week after her arrest.
She will appear in court on Friday, by which time it's expected she will have been charged, her lawyer Muhammed Shafee Abdullah told reporters.
"There is a very strong chance that she is one of those naive and innocent mules that has been used by some unscrupulous people," he told reporters at the court.
The same legal team, which includes Australian Tania Scivetti, represented Dominic Bird, a truck driver from Perth, who was last year acquitted on charges of trafficking 167 grams of crystal meth.
A few months after his 2012 arrest, Australian mum Emma Louise L'Aiguille, 34, and a Nigerian man were charged with trafficking after Malaysian police allegedly found 1.005kg of methamphetamine under the seat of a car.
The charges against the Perth aged care nurse were dropped when the lawyers argued it was not her car, and she didn't know there were drugs in it.
Three Australians have been executed for drug trafficking offences in Malaysia.
In July 1986 Perth men Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers were hanged in Pudu Prison, and in 1993, Michael McAuliffe from Queensland was executed.
Later Ms Exposto's children said they have been concerned about their mother.
"We all love our mum," the family told the Nine Network.
"We are all worried for her and all praying for the best."
THE RECENT SPATE OF DRUG TRAFFICKING CASES:
- November 8 - Sydneysiders Peter Gardner, 25, and Kalynda Davis, 22, were busted in China accused of trying to smuggle 75kg of ice into Australia. Davis has been released without charge, but Gardner remains in custody and may face the death penalty
- December 1 - New Zealander Anthony Glen de Malmanche, 52, was arrested after allegedly flying into Bali from Hong Kong with 1.7kg of methamphetamine. He could face the death penalty
- December 7 - Russian woman Aleksandra Magnaeva, 26, arrived in Bali on a flight from Hong Kong with 2.1kg of methamphetamine stashed in her bags. She also faces death by firing squad.
OTHER AUSTRALIANS FACING DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING:
- May 2013 - Australian citizen Pham Trung Dung arrested in Vietnam trying to smuggle two suitcases of heroin on a flight to Sydney. He was sentenced to death in June this year
- April 2005 - Nine young Australians are arrested in a plan to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Indonesia to Australia. The leaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, face death by firing squad after Indonesia's recently-elected president indicated he is against granting drug offenders clemency.
Share
