Japanese court convicts Australian who says she was tricked into smuggling drugs

Six years is actually a far lighter sentence than it could have been for such a commercial amount of meth. Drug traffickers with large amounts of Class A drugs receive similar sentences in this woman's home nation, Australia.

Ignorance of what you are carrying into/out of a nation is never a defence. NEVER carry anyone else's luggage, apart from a loved one.

by international agreement, all countries ask everyone flying internationally if they packed their own suitcase.

there’s your answer.

another answer is to look at the x-ray of bags upon departure as carefully as entry.

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Guilty of being a fool. Nigeria and free flights to Lao are so obviously dodgy.

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wow such a great use of prison space and tax payer money, 6 years of storing and feeding 58 year old gaijin grandmas

why not catch the nigerian? oh wait, that might actually require police work

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Try to avoid Japan justice system at all cost! Bringing drug to Japan doesn't count to avoid that.

customs officials found about 2 kilograms of phenylaminopropane, a stimulant, hidden under a false bottom in a suitcase she was carrying as checked luggage.

 2 kilograms hidden under a false bottom—definitely an act of bad intent!

These drug-smugglers need to get better at lying, give her the Singapore treatment.

This kind of similar drug smuggling happened to a Japanese tourist in Australia a long time ago. She was sentenced 10 years in prison. She was back home now.

There was a very concern mob of her closest relatives there in support and have been for the passed month. Out of all these concerned bothers, sisters, aunties etc none enquired about this on line romance and leaving to meet up in his home country of Japan but on the way stop off at Laos and pick up a suitcase and continue on to Japan. Like not one of her loving concerned mob enquired about this stop over in Laos ? That concerned, that they are willing to pay out their hard earn money for a month stay in Chiba and flights ??? you would be looking at 500,000 or $5000 yen minimum for each. Yeah Nah this silly not guilt has cost her big and where a guilty I am very sorry I am stupid,I need the money apology to the Japanese people would have seen her back home by now. LOL.

I’m innocent! I’m the victim! Let me outta here!

By Japanese standards a quick trial and a 6-year light sentence for drug smuggling.

But I’m innocent! I’m the victim!

Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. Luckily this person didn’t try it in SE Asia somewhere.

The Nigerian man! Was he a prince too? Normally I’m pretty much on the side of innocent, but my ultimate question is, does this whole story pass the SNIFF TEST? It clearly didn’t pass the dog’s sniff test and it didn’t pass mine. She even ignored her own sniff test. And her family were all ok with this. Sadly we haven’t managed to invent the new drug that can cure the terrible affliction she sufferers from. Stupidity and a lack of common sense! If only she used a nasal decongestant it may have helped to unblock her nasal passages! On the flip side, they got some drugs off the streets!

What a big mistake..

Don't fall into Nigerian Prince scams..

She must feel lucky that didn't happen in countries like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Philippines, North Korea, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and Yemen. Where drug trafficking is punished with the death penalty...

Good. Asian countries and their courts will not accept the social and health dysfunction/normalization of crime that comes from having western countries lenient attitudes to illegal drugs including say that it's a so called 'victim less crime'.

This woman had travelled globally as part of the perks of her high paying publicly funded job. She knew that you don't take other people's belongings onto a plane and into a different country. Her country Australia looks more like mine of the US these days - my last vacation there I was shocked by how much crime and squalor exists in even the smaller cities there connected to illegal drugs yet the US has about 330 million people and Australia not even 28 million.

Pretty sure the hard left leader Albanese will try to get her home soon. Just like he wants some of the Aus criminals locked up in Bali for carrying hard drugs that would have destroyed countless lives in different ways to go home and get softer treatment. The Japanese don't play identity politics and believe that indigenous Australians aren't exempt from following rules and the law. That there must be consequences for wrong actions is still very much part of Japan and Asia - the opposite view in western countries is shameful and destructive.

Actually there are many similar cases from other countries including people with mental disease! Judge counted over a year so if the family can pay the 1 million yen, she can be transfered to Australia in one year.

But as she goes to appeal, she will just loose time (appeal detention time until trial is not counted).

Her story and defense are straight out of a play book. Nigerian, paid for tickets, stop to pick up a suit case, paid for the flights, promise to marry. It is plausible she fell into the trap she has to be pretty stupid or really desperate to marry.

Our left leaning Aussie ABC actually led with this story last night ( it was ahead of theSK martial law one! ) The victim card here will be very strong, cause she is an aboriginal lady and they often get treated with more ‘compassion’ and leniency from our Aussie legal system. Her daughter was on tv telling us that she told her Mum she will be free soon.

The narrative is that the poor lady she was a victim of her own stupidity, but there’s this fact not reported above. The 58-year-old from Perth, ran as the Greens candidate for the West Australian electorate of Pearce in the 2022 federal election.

The Nigerian prince romance scam, please. Carrying luggage from Laos…

Little do they know about the Japanese judiciary. Would be surprised if Japan caves in to the pressure that’ Aussies will demand our government puts on them for further leniency. Feel for the lady, but 6 years is light for the amount seized, and Japan doesn’t mess around when it comes to this stuff.

she is an adult.

she knew what she is doing.she knew that to bring drugs to Japan is illegal.

she have confirmed she knows about all of her luggage upon arrival in Japan and all packed by herself.

so here are consequences.she is fully responsible for her actions and here is verdict.

love scam or not.

there is a law and there is punishment.

meth she brought if unfound could destroy lives of many and could kill many too.

no mercy.

she still lucky than in few months will fly back home free.

if catched in Thailand,Singapore or Malaysia she could may be not that lucky.

With time already served, she will be released in a bit over 4 and a half years (failing any appeal). She should be thanking her lawyer who did a good job - the prosecution requested 10 years.

The narrative is that the poor lady she was a victim of her own stupidity, but there’s this fact not reported above. The 58-year-old from Perth, ran as the Greens candidate for the West Australian electorate of Pearce in the 2022 federal election.

Being a hard-left Greens candidate in Australia certainly does not denote any significant intelligence. Pretty much the opposite, it may be argued.

Being a hard-left Greens candidate in Australia certainly does not denote any significant intelligence. Pretty much the opposite, it may be argued.

Good point!

Compassion not a big feature in comments here.

Maybe she was a victim of a scam ,did she have any prior convictions to indicate a predisposition to this sort of crime ?

Mens Rea....a guilty mind....may have been absent....hence no intent and no conviction.

Does anyone on this forum expect the Japanese legal system to EVER think outside the parameters set by the Police/Prosecutors ?

How many commentators here have ANY experience in criminal law ?

Methinks zero.

The quality of mercy is not strained.....Shakespear.

I thought she'll get at least 10 indeed. It's a light sentence for that large amount of pills. Behave and she's out in 4 (so 2 more to actually do).

ZERO sympathy from me.

I am sick of women getting such favourable treatment in courts, women need to take responsibility for their actions.

Article needs proofreading!

She will be out in 3 years guaranteed!

GuruMickToday  09:29 am JST

Compassion not a big feature in comments here.

Maybe she was a victim of a scam ,did she have any prior convictions to indicate a predisposition to this sort of crime ?

Mens Rea....a guilty mind....may have been absent....hence no intent and no conviction.

Does anyone on this forum expect the Japanese legal system to EVER think outside the parameters set by the Police/Prosecutors ?

How many commentators here have ANY experience in criminal law ?

Methinks zero.

The quality of mercy is not strained.....Shakespear.

I think we can be compassionate but i guess she's educated, understands the law, understands the whole thing wasn't normal. But, unless she had a mental illness, or learning difficulties, didn't understand the questions at the airport. Then she carried drugs into Japan. Being stupid in the terms of being a normal person IS A CRIME. Being stupid because you have a learning difficulty, or mental health condition, i might work with some sympathy. I would like to reserve my sympathy for all those who are struggling to get off some of the drugs.

We think of the parameters but it only goes sooooo far.

Airport staff:

Have you packed your luggage yourself? NO. Do not fly!

Has anyone asked you to carry anything on board for them? YES, Do not fly!

Have you left your bags unattended at any time? Yes. Do not fly!

Sniff test completed, and it stinks dodgy! She knew it.

The victim card here will be very strong, cause she is an aboriginal lady and they often get treated with more ‘compassion’ and leniency from our Aussie legal system. *

I hope not. Race and intelligence, or lack of it, clearly do not correlate.I think Forrest Gump said it perfectly "Stupid is as stupid does"

No worries, Prince Chukwudi Adebayo will bust her out of prison upon receipt of the transfer of Ten Thousand US dollars to the following account...

“That there must be consequences for wrong actions is still very much part of Japan”

Tell that to LDP lawmakers

wow such a great use of prison space and tax payer money, 6 years of storing and feeding 58 year old gaijin grandmas

why not catch the nigerian? oh wait, that might actually require police work.

The Japanese police do very little investitive work. Prosecutors are just bureaucrats. Despite the fact that the judge realised that she was the victim of a scam, she was sentenced to 6 years. I have to beg the question "Are Japanese judges imbeciles"? Answer :Possibly not. They are also a victim of a legal system that is not comensurite to the 21st century.

Being a hard-left Greens candidate in Australia certainly does not denote any significant intelligence. Pretty much the opposite, it may be argued.

Serves her right.

Good. Enough with the poor innocent grandmother from Perth bit. Stupidity shouldn't be a mitigating factor. The number of red flags she ignored before she was caught as a narcotics mule is ridiculous and there is no excuse for her claim that she didn't realize that what she was doing had the high probability of being illegal with serious punitive consequences.

why not catch the nigerian? oh wait, that might actually require police work.

The Nigerian will be safely tucked away in ‘no go’ ( for the cops ) buildings somewhere in Kabukicho.

She got of fairly lightly. They could have thrown the book at her. Big time lesson learned by more people than just her and her family I hope. I don't know why anyone would travel such a distance to meet someone they have never seen or conversed with face to face. I might let you come and meet me at a cafe or some place like that but I'm not going anywhere to visit you and I'm not bringing any suitcases or items that don't belong to me. It's sad that people still fall for these scams.

Just to think she was a greens candidate…one lucky woman thought she would have got 10 to 15.

John,

What’s with your continual use of “mob” and “klan”?

These people are her family members and should be referred to as such.

I’m guessing because they are Aborigines you chose to use these disrespectful terms.

“Life is hard. It’s harder if you’re stupid.” — John Wayne

Nelson’s lawyer Rie Nishida said the ruling was unjust and that she planned to appeal. “We will fight until the end,” she said

Australians abroad seem to think that the rules don't apply to them.

Donna Nelson, 58, "Is this your bag, did you pack this bag yourself?

Make a false statement, and you only have yourself to blame.

@syniksan

What makes you think that? You’re making a very generalised comment.

On the contrary, I think most people behave and follow local laws but there’s bad apples from every country though.

She is punished for gullability. Sadly for her, being gullible is not an excuse in any legal system. She should just be glad this did not happen to her in Singapore.

Fighto!

Being a hard-left Greens candidate in Australia certainly does not denote any significant intelligence. Pretty much the opposite, it may be argued.

Not only in Australia.

In addition to being asked if you packed your suitcase yourself, you’ll also be asked if anyone has given you something to carry for them. So not much sympathy for grandma.

Yea right. She didn’t know LOL!

6yrs on tax payers money pfftt. What a waste of money. When the drugs land on the streets how many lives would it have impacted? What happened to capital punishment?

According to the law, she is guilty, because at the very least she was an accessory to smuggling, her judgement was dumb at best, but as the judge says she should have used more common sense and she just refused, probably clouded by the idea of marrying this man.

On the other hand, I think prohibition laws are bad. I'm someone who is against ALL drugs, and that includes alcohol, which is the most "socially acceptable drug". In my eyes alcohol is the same as all other drugs, I find it disgusting, but, I don't think that ANY of these drugs should be illegal.

If you can make meth illegal, but it is legal for someone to kill themselves over alcohol, it is just an inconsistent and dumb system. People are able to see the problem with prohibition when it comes to alcohol (in a big part because most people consume that drug), but sadly people are blind about prohibition of other drugs (because they do not consume them).

I hope that in the future people can start to just live and let live, and stop the urge to ruin other people's lives because you don't agree with their lifestyles.

Well, well, look at you:

15 Minutes of Fame and Six Years to think about it

Bunch of Australians got hung in Indonesia for drug smuggling. She must have known. If she made it to 58 years old you know what’s up. Good on the Japanese police and judicial system. She got off to easy. I hope they don’t let her out early. Drug smuggling should get life.

No sympathy by this fellow Aussie. Sick of Australians knowingly smuggling drugs. 50 years with hard labour, no parole and a one million dollar fine would have been a more suitable sentence.

Page 1 of the Nigerian Drug Smuggling Manual - menopausal women make excellent mules.

Notice this "I was getting tricked into carrying drugs" only happens to Australians. This is absolutely not the first time, there was at least another case like this in Bali.

I can't see how she packed it herself because I don't know how anyone wouldn't notice an extra 4.4 lbs in a suitcase. And if she simply accepted the suitcase "as-is" without question, well...

@Random I am reading the post here and people are calling the women stupid but little do they know they are just as stupid with their so call smart comments "airport personnel asks travelers if anyone has given them something to carry for them". Here's a little know fact if a traveler answers yes, their baggage will most definitely tag as one to be checked. All you are doing is helping the screening progress!!!

In addition to being asked if you packed your suitcase yourself, you’ll also be asked if anyone has given you something to carry for them. So not much sympathy for grandma.

My Jpn wife and I, live in the US. We were friends with a Jpn couple she knew though English language school. The husband is a well educated engineer sent by his company to study at a top US university. They were going back to Jpn and the wife asked my wife to accept postal delivery of a custom made garment which would not finished until after they left, which my wife should then carry in her luggage to Japan the next time she went. Fortunately my kind wife mentioned she felt strange about it and I communicated to the requesting wife why it wouldn't be good idea - why my wife could end up on a permanent border blacklist just for answering yes to carrying someone else's luggage - a lot of awkwardness followed and the proposal was put to rest. I am guessing the requesting wife might have herself been drawn into some confidence trick without full awareness - or maybe the story was true! My wife figured it was probably sexy underwear she felt unsafe having sent by mail.

Going back over 40 years and I was a backpacking youth in Thailand staying at a hostel when a quiet and gracious young lady asked me for advice because a couple were asking her to carry about 40 letters they had written across borders for them - some lame reason like Thai mail was not reliable and it was better to send from another country. So I ended up spending an about an hour refusing on her behalf while they berated me for being obstinate and the female of the couple literally broke down in tears, pleading, until they finally gave up.

Probably in neither case would the intended target have actually done the stupid act even if I were not there, but the point is kindness and a trusting nature can be used to leverage people because they feel bad about saying no. Occasionally the dark side will get lucky.

About this case, obviously I don't know. I think the authorities generally have no choice but to prosecute.

I knew somebody in Taiwan, who after returning home opened his luggage to find nothing missing, but some else's credit was in there. That's a scary thought.

@kaimycahl, so you are saying they shouldn’t ask those questions because everyone lies? If she had answered truthfully it might have saved her a lot of trouble. I worked in the airline business for over 30 years and have heard every excuse…including hers. 99 percent of drug mules know they’re carrying something illegal, so I don’t fully believe grandma’s story.

Everyday some poor woman or man is duped in online romance scams.

Every week public announcements in Japan have warnings about the ore ore ]spelling ?\ schemes.

This stuff happens, regularly and to many,many people.

Hence my doubt expressed above.

One can be of reasonable intelligence and still be a victim.

An Australian Court would get to hear a lot of things that would give a jury pause .

Aboriginal life spans are well below other Australians. I wonder if Japan and Australia have prisoner exchange schemes ?

I will sign of here now as a Nigerian Prince is sending me some gold bullion.

Airport staff:

> Have you packed your luggage yourself? NO. Do not fly!

> Has anyone asked you to carry anything on board for them? YES, Do not fly!

She deliberately lied answering those questions. She knew what she was doing.

Airport staff:

> Have you packed your luggage yourself? NO. Do not fly!

> Has anyone asked you to carry anything on board for them? YES, Do not fly!

She deliberately lied answering those questions. She knew what she was doing.

ian

Airport staff:

Have you packed your luggage yourself? NO. Do not fly!*

Has anyone asked you to carry anything on board for them? YES, Do not fly!*

She deliberately lied answering those questions. She knew what she was doing.

Safe to assume the scammers had prepared her for that situation and given her some stupid explanation of why she should lie. Japanese ore-ore scammers do the same when the instruct old people what to say at the bank when making dubious transfers.

My verdict still is: gullible

Not sure what airports you all use, but I've never been asked all those questions...

Of course it is common sense not to carry bags given to you by people you've never met...

2 kilograms of anything is heavy - that's a LOT of meth. It's very hard to believe that a mature woman in this day and age, with all of the warnings about online scams etc, would be this naïve and gullible, and clearly the Japanese authorities think so as well.

I'd say she is probably guilty, has been caught and is now playing the 'deer in the headlights' card.

Japanese court convicts Australian who says she was tricked into smuggling drugs

She was convinced to smuggle drugs