DRUGS CHARGES against Sydney grandmother Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto have been transferred to Malaysia's high court where she will be sentenced to hang if found guilty.
A chemist's report submitted in a lower court in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday confirmed that a substance discovered in her suitcase last December was 1.1 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, the drug known as "ice."
Malaysia has a mandatory death sentence for anyone found guilty of carrying more than 50 grams of a prohibited drug.
The transferring of her case to the higher court comes after Wednesday's execution of the Bali Nine organisers and six other convicted drug offenders in Indonesia.
At least 16 other Australians are facing charges around the world for which they could be executed, including three accused of drugs offences in China.
Mrs Pinto Exposto has told her lawyers she was the victim of a sophisticated online military romance scam that has entrapped thousands of people.
Director of Customs at Malaysia's international airport, shows the bag allegedly containing drugs that was being carried by Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto when she was arrested.
Wearing a white blouse and black pants the 52 year-old mother of four looked nervous as charges against her were read out in court.
Three times she replied she was innocent.
'No date has been set for a trial but lawyers said it could begin later this year.
"We are confident that we can show her innocence at trial," said her high profile lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Investigators say Malaysia, where Mrs Pinto Exposto arrived on December 7, has become an epicentre for online-based crimes perpetrated mostly by Africans using false identities, US officials say.
Her case is similar to that of Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso whose life was spared by Indonesia's president Joko Widodo early Wednesday shortly before she was due to be executed by firing squad alongside Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.
Both women claim they had no knowledge of drugs that were sewn into compartments inside the suitcases they were carrying while transiting through Kuala Lumpur international airport.
Malaysian authorities say the airport has become a transit point for illegal drugs, mostly from China, that are destined to other countries.
Veloso, a 30 year-old mother of two from an impoverished family, claims she was duped into carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin that were discovered after she flew from the Malaysian capital to Indonesia in 2010.
Investigators in the Philippines have gathered evidence backing her claim and have charged a 47 year-old woman with human trafficking and other charges relating to the case.
The arrest of Mrs Pinto Exposto, a former social worker in East Timor, has shocked her family and friends in Sydney, who say she was a devoted and loving mother and grandmother.
Mrs Pinto Exposto has told lawyers she believed the suitcase she was carrying when she was arrested at Kuala Lumpur airport contained only clothes she was asked by a stranger in Shanghai to take to Melbourne.
She had travelled to the Chinese city after falling for the online scam, her lawyers say.
Mrs Pinto Exposto has told her lawyers she was surprised when the drugs were found, telling them she had "never seen drugs in her life".
She and her husband had separated and were intending to divorce, and she had travelled to Shanghai without telling key family members' lawyers.
Defence lawyers have signalled they will argue that Mrs Pinto Exposto's willingness to put her bag through a security scanner at a Kuala Lumpur airport exit channel without being asked by Customs officials shows she did not know the drugs were there.
She was booked on a connecting flight to Melbourne and could have stayed in the airport's transit areas without having to pass through the security checkpoint.
Cyber-crime investigators in the US suspect that people duped in romance scams are increasingly being used as drug mules but most of the crimes never become public.
The US Army Criminal Investigation Command warned last year that the scams are a "growing epidemic" perpetrated by people using untraceable email addresses, routing through numerous countries and utilising cyber cafes which maintain no accountability of use.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has also warned that scammers targeting Australians will go to "great lengths to gain your interest and trust, such as sharing personal information and even sending you gifts".
Three Australians have been hanged for drugs offences in Malaysia since 1986.
Five people have been executed in Malaysia in recent years.
A chemist's report submitted in a lower court in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday confirmed that a substance discovered in her suitcase last December was 1.1 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, the drug known as "ice."
Malaysia has a mandatory death sentence for anyone found guilty of carrying more than 50 grams of a prohibited drug.
The transferring of her case to the higher court comes after Wednesday's execution of the Bali Nine organisers and six other convicted drug offenders in Indonesia.
At least 16 other Australians are facing charges around the world for which they could be executed, including three accused of drugs offences in China.
Mrs Pinto Exposto has told her lawyers she was the victim of a sophisticated online military romance scam that has entrapped thousands of people.
Director of Customs at Malaysia's international airport, shows the bag allegedly containing drugs that was being carried by Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto when she was arrested.
Wearing a white blouse and black pants the 52 year-old mother of four looked nervous as charges against her were read out in court.
Three times she replied she was innocent.
'No date has been set for a trial but lawyers said it could begin later this year.
"We are confident that we can show her innocence at trial," said her high profile lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Investigators say Malaysia, where Mrs Pinto Exposto arrived on December 7, has become an epicentre for online-based crimes perpetrated mostly by Africans using false identities, US officials say.
Her case is similar to that of Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso whose life was spared by Indonesia's president Joko Widodo early Wednesday shortly before she was due to be executed by firing squad alongside Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.
Both women claim they had no knowledge of drugs that were sewn into compartments inside the suitcases they were carrying while transiting through Kuala Lumpur international airport.
Malaysian authorities say the airport has become a transit point for illegal drugs, mostly from China, that are destined to other countries.
Veloso, a 30 year-old mother of two from an impoverished family, claims she was duped into carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin that were discovered after she flew from the Malaysian capital to Indonesia in 2010.
Investigators in the Philippines have gathered evidence backing her claim and have charged a 47 year-old woman with human trafficking and other charges relating to the case.
The arrest of Mrs Pinto Exposto, a former social worker in East Timor, has shocked her family and friends in Sydney, who say she was a devoted and loving mother and grandmother.
Mrs Pinto Exposto has told lawyers she believed the suitcase she was carrying when she was arrested at Kuala Lumpur airport contained only clothes she was asked by a stranger in Shanghai to take to Melbourne.
She had travelled to the Chinese city after falling for the online scam, her lawyers say.
Mrs Pinto Exposto has told her lawyers she was surprised when the drugs were found, telling them she had "never seen drugs in her life".
She and her husband had separated and were intending to divorce, and she had travelled to Shanghai without telling key family members' lawyers.
Defence lawyers have signalled they will argue that Mrs Pinto Exposto's willingness to put her bag through a security scanner at a Kuala Lumpur airport exit channel without being asked by Customs officials shows she did not know the drugs were there.
She was booked on a connecting flight to Melbourne and could have stayed in the airport's transit areas without having to pass through the security checkpoint.
Cyber-crime investigators in the US suspect that people duped in romance scams are increasingly being used as drug mules but most of the crimes never become public.
The US Army Criminal Investigation Command warned last year that the scams are a "growing epidemic" perpetrated by people using untraceable email addresses, routing through numerous countries and utilising cyber cafes which maintain no accountability of use.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has also warned that scammers targeting Australians will go to "great lengths to gain your interest and trust, such as sharing personal information and even sending you gifts".
Three Australians have been hanged for drugs offences in Malaysia since 1986.
Five people have been executed in Malaysia in recent years.
I cant comprehend the degree of evil that a person would go to by setting up innocent women to carry drugs through countries that have death penalties if caught. That is of course if these women are innocent . But it makes complete sense . You procure someone via the internet and load them up and send them on their way, pretty much all from behind a keyboard. Its so evil it makes me hate the world i live in sometimes.
Posted by carvets on May 1, 2015 11:46