logo
Three Britons could face death penalty in Indonesia

Three Britons could face death penalty in Indonesia

Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 28, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 29, were arrested on February 1.
Prosecutor I Made Dipa Umbara said customs officers halted them at the X-ray machine after finding suspicious items in their luggage disguised as food packages.
Mr Umbara told the District Court in Denpasar that packets of Angel Delight powdered dessert mix in their luggage contained 993.56 grams of cocaine, worth an estimated six billion rupiah (£272,000).
BREAKING: Three Britons could face the death penalty in Bali after appearing in court charged with smuggling nearly a kilogram of cocaine into Indonesia.
🔗 Read more https://t.co/6ASWn63pEa — Sky News (@SkyNews) June 3, 2025
Two days later, authorities arrested Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, after a controlled delivery set up by police.
This involved the other two suspects handing the drug to him in the parking area of a hotel in Denpasar. He is being tried separately.
The drugs were brought from England to Indonesia with a transit in the Doha international airport in Qatar, Mr Umbara said.
The group had successfully brought cocaine into the country twice before, Ponco Indriyo, the deputy director of the Bali Police Narcotics Unit, told reporters in February.
The trial was adjourned until next week, when the three-judge panel will hear witness evidence, Sky News reports.
Both the defendants and their lawyers declined to comment to the media after the trial.
Three Brits charged in Indonesia for smuggling cocaine in Angel Delight sachetshttps://t.co/cPee7kSRpq — ITV News (@itvnews) June 3, 2025
What are Indonesia's drug laws?
According to Adventure Alternative, drug use or the possession of even small amounts of drugs such as marijuana or ecstasy can lead to prison sentences longer than four years in Indonesia.
Convicted traffickers or users of hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin can face the death penalty.
Sky News adds that drug smugglers in Indonesia are "sometimes executed by firing squad".
About 530 people, including 96 foreigners, are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections' data showed.
Indonesia's last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
A British woman, Lindsay Sandiford, now 69, has been on death row in Indonesia for more than a decade.
She was arrested in 2012 when 3.8 kilograms of cocaine were discovered stuffed inside the lining of her luggage at Bali's airport.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Elton John says ‘we will not back down' in awards speech addressing AI concerns
Elton John says ‘we will not back down' in awards speech addressing AI concerns

Wales Online

time7 minutes ago

  • Wales Online

Elton John says ‘we will not back down' in awards speech addressing AI concerns

Elton John says 'we will not back down' in awards speech addressing AI concerns The Government has repeatedly rejected changes to the Data (Use and Access) Bill, proposed by the House of Lords, aimed at strengthening protections for the creative sector Sir Elton John said "we will not back down" in an awards speech where he pleaded with the UK Government to "do the right thing" by strengthening copyright protections when artificial intelligence (AI) models learn from creatives' content. The Government has repeatedly rejected changes to the Data (Use and Access) Bill, proposed by the House of Lords, aimed at strengthening protections for the creative sector. ‌ Peers have attempted to amend the Bill by adding a commitment to introduce transparency requirements, aiming to ensure copyright holders are able to see when their work has been used and by who. ‌ Veteran rock singer Sir Elton, 78, who picked up the Creators' Champion Award at Billboard's Global Power Players Event on Wednesday, is among hundreds of creatives who have raised concerns over AI companies using copyrighted work without permission. In an Instagram post he thanked the US magazine for the award and said: "Supporting the next generation of British artists is one of the major driving forces in my life. "As everyone in that room was aware, the Data Bill is currently looming over our industries and the future livelihood of all artists. It is an existential issue. Article continues below "Earlier this evening, the Government was defeated for an unprecedented fifth time by the House of Lords who have backed the crucial amendment to the Bill. "I am now calling on the Government to do the right thing and get transparency added to the Bill. "Administration of copyright must be transparent. And it must have an artist's full permission. These two principles are the bedrock of our industry. They must be included in the data Bill as a backstop. ‌ "Let's be clear – we want to work with the Government. We are not anti AI. We are not anti big tech. We are not against Labour. We want a solution that brings all parties together in a way that's transparent, fair and allows artists to maintain control of their work. "We will not let the Government forget their promise to support our creative industries. We will not back down and we will not quietly go away. This is just the beginning. "Thank you, Billboard. And thank you Baroness Kidron and The House of Lords for standing up for our world-beating artists, journalists, playwrights, designers and authors." Article continues below The prolonged impasse and the conduct of proceedings at Westminster now threatens the future of the whole Bill and its measures, including a crackdown on deepfake porn abuse.

Spain launches another tax raid on British holidaymakers
Spain launches another tax raid on British holidaymakers

Telegraph

time16 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Spain launches another tax raid on British holidaymakers

Are you a holiday let owner affected by the Spanish government's new tax? Get in touch money@ Spain's socialist government is planning a tax raid on British holiday let-owners in the country. The ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party wants to charge 21pc VAT on stays of less than 30 days – more than double the rate paid by hotels. It comes as Madrid lawmakers take aim at foreign property investors as part of efforts to tackle high housing costs. Draft legislation put before the Spanish parliament would raise taxes on owners of short-term tourist rentals from the current rate of zero. The levy rate paid by hotels is just 10pc. Unveiling the new bill last month, housing minister Isabel Rodriguez said: 'Homes are for living in [...] the measures seek to guarantee the right to rental housing for families.' The proposed change is part of the same legal push to impose a 100pc purchase tax on the sale of Spanish property to non-European Union buyers and also includes higher taxes for second homes and vacant properties. Alex Radford, partner at Spain-based law firm English Solicitor & Abogado, said: 'The VAT has got more chance of being implemented than the 100pc tax on a property bought by a non-European.' He said that if approved, the bill would likely increase the cost of holidays and lead to fewer available holiday lets in Spain. 'We would envisage that the rental [market] is going to be slightly more expensive. If owners have to add 21pc VAT to the cost of a rental, then we would expect rentals to decrease and people will look at other countries.' 'It's still early days and we don't know what will get approved and what will not,' Mr Radford added. 'Britons are the number one enemy' Millions of Britons who visit and live in Spain face losing out because of the new laws, which will undergo scrutiny and potentially amendment before being voted on in the second half of this year. There were more than 260,000 British expats living in Spain at the last official count in 2020, while it received 1.6 million tourists from the UK – more than any other country – during the busy April period last year, according to the Spanish statistics agency. Robert Amsterdam, partner Amsterdam & Associates, a law firm that has campaigned against higher Spanish taxes, said: 'The Spanish government is diverting the attention of the Spanish people away from the government's behaviour and they're coming up with the British as enemy number one.' Most estimates place the number of British people who own property in Spain between 800,000 and one million. A figure for the number of British holiday let-owners in the country was not available. British non-residents bought 3,480 homes in Spain in the first half of 2024, making up 38pc of a total of 9,166 properties sold to non-resident non-EU buyers, according to the latest available figures from the General Council of Spanish Notaries and Spanish Property Insight. Growing anti-tourist sentiment in Spain has already seen cities like Malaga and Madrid capping new licences for holiday lets, while Barcelona will ban them completely by 2028. Spanish media reported in January that Barcelona's plans would cost €1.9bn (£1.6bn) and lose the city around 40,000 jobs, based on a report by consultancy PWC. The country's minority coalition government has defended a crackdown on foreign property investors and holiday let-owners as necessary to make more housing available for Spanish people. There is a deficit of 450,000 homes across Spain, according to a Bank of Spain report published this week. In popular tourist destinations like the Canary and Balearic Islands half the housing stock is either holiday lets for tourists or homes owned by foreigners, it said. Javier Peñate, a legal adviser to a holiday homeowners association in the Canary Islands, told Reuters: 'The sole objective is to put an end to these activities and leave [tourism] in the hands of hoteliers.' Short-term rentals in the province already pay 7pc VAT, as do hotels.

Top European holiday destination to let British travellers skip lengthy passport queues this summer
Top European holiday destination to let British travellers skip lengthy passport queues this summer

The Sun

time16 minutes ago

  • The Sun

Top European holiday destination to let British travellers skip lengthy passport queues this summer

HOLIDAYMAKERS heading to Portugal will face shorter airport queues THIS WEEK with Brits able to use e-gates. The sunshine destination will become the first country to allow UK passport holders to use the system since Sir Keir Starmer struck a deal with Brussels. 1 Travellers have had to queue to have their passports stamped when arriving for their break since the UK left the European Union - often leading to long queues. Around 2.5 million people head to Portugal each year with more with 300,000 heading to the Algarve. Around 50,000 Brits live in the country. It has now been confirmed that holidaymakers heading to Faro airport will be able to use the hi-tech system. Europe relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said: "The historic deal that we signed with the EU on May 19 is in our national interests - good for bills, borders and jobs. "It slashes red tape and bureaucracy, boosts British exporters and makes life easier for holidaymakers. "Indeed, I'm delighted to confirm this morning that Faro Airport in Portugal will start the rollout of e-gate access to UK arrivals this week." Only last month, EU relations minister Thomas-Symonds strongly hinted that Brits will face less time waiting at border control. He said: 'I would love to see you being able to go through the border more quickly in that way. 'That's certainly something we've been pushing with the EU and I think that will be something that will be very helpful to British people.' The Prime Minister revealed details of Brits using e-gates during the first summit between Britain and the European Union. But the use of e-gates had to be given the green light by individual countries. The PM came under fire by explicitly saying that ''Brits travelling to Europe will now be able to use e-gates'.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store