A Thai woman narrowly escaped a one-way trip to a meeting with the executioner despite being convicted of trafficking 2kg of meth.
Singapore’s hardline stance against drugs would have lead 30-year-old Samruamchit Wipha to the gallows for trafficking more than 250g of meth — but she was spared a death sentence for substantively helping the authorities, thanks to new laws that were implemented in 2013.
She had been detained at Changi Airport back in 2012 when authorities found her with 3kg of a crystalline substance hidden in a false compartment in her backpack, The Straits Times reports. Further analysis found that the substance contained around 2kg of meth.
Samruamchit testified that she did not know that she had the drugs in her possession, believing that she was simply tasked to deliver clothes and shoes in the backpack by a Nigerian man she met at Bangkok.
“Kelvin” had approached her at a cafe after she quarrelled with her Italian boyfriend over the phone — and the two had sex later on. “Kelvin” then offered her $2,300 to transport the “illegal stuff” from New Delhi to Bangkok via Singapore.
In her High Court trial, the judge was not at all convinced by her claims of being unaware about the drugs. Samruamchit mentioned that the Thai interpreter made a mistake in translating “illegal stuff” to “drugs” in her statements to the Central Narcotics Bureau — even though the Thai words for them don’t even sound alike. According to Google translate, it checks out.
Justice Choo also noted that none of the inexpensive clothes and shoes in her backpack were branded items, so there would be no reason why she really believed they were illegal or would be paid $2,300 just to deliver them.
Even though she was convicted as a drug courier, Samruamchit was instead given life imprisonment yesterday after being certified by the prosecution to have helped the authorities substantially.
Photo: Global Panorama via Flickr
