Mrs Sandiford was stopped as she arrived at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International
Airport from Bangkok, Thailand, on May 19. After she agreed to take part in
the undercover operation, police monitored her closely as she was contacted
by a second British woman at a pre-arranged meeting point.
Officers then moved in and detained three other people once the drugs changed
hands.
Made Wijaya, a customs official, said: “After weighing, the total cocaine is
4.791kg. The drugs have an estimated street value of 23.9 billion Indonesian
rupiah [£1.6 million]. “This is a big international network. The charge
against them would carry the death penalty.”
Mrs Sandiford is originally from Redcar in Teesside, but has lived in London
and Cheltenham.
She gave birth to her first son, Lewis Michael, in 1988 and two years later
had a second child, Eliot, who had learning difficulties. She married their
father Nicholas in London in 1994, but the couple later split and she moved
to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.
One resident there described her as the “neighbour from hell” who would
regularly host late-night parties.
But a family friend said he would never have expected her to become involved
in drug smuggling. “I was very shocked when I found out.
“She was always a party girl but I didn’t think she was capable of this.”
Related posts:
Views: 0