A 42-year-old woman of Peruvian nationality was arrested in Bali after landing at the tourist island's international airport with 1,432.87 grams of cocaine, a crime punishable even by death in Indonesia, according to the Asian country's authorities on Tuesday.
In a statement, the police explained that the woman was arrested on the night of August 12, when she attempted to enter Bali with the drugs hidden in her genitals and underwear, after completing a trip that began in Spain the previous day and included a brief stopover in Qatar.
"After carrying out an inspection, customs officers became suspicious" of the accused.
Thus, they requested a more thorough investigation by the Antinarcotics Unit, whose officials discovered the drugs through X-ray images.
The detainee concealed a dildo containing 194 grams of cocaine in her genitals, while the rest of the drugs were found in her underwear.
"They also found 85 orange ecstasy pills inside her brassiere," the statement added.
According to the investigation, the case began to take shape in April through a dark web chat, in which a man coordinated with the woman for her to receive the drugs in the Spanish city of Barcelona, with the promise of a reward of US$20,000 if she managed to bring them into Bali.
The police are tracking down the person who delivered the drugs in Spain, as well as the network that was set to receive the Peruvian woman in Bali.
At the end of July, the Indonesian justice system sentenced a 46-year-old Argentine woman to seven years in prison for attempting to smuggle cocaine concealed in her body into Bali, on the same day that three British citizens were sentenced to one year in prison after police found drugs in their luggage.
In recent months, Indonesia, a country that applies the death penalty for drug trafficking, has approved the repatriation of foreign nationals convicted of drug-related offenses, in an unusual display of clemency toward those sentenced for narcotics trafficking.
According to Amnesty International's latest report on death sentences and executions, published in 2024, the Indonesian justice system issued 64 new death sentences for drug-related offenses in the year prior to the release of the document.