Can you really go to jail for 33 years for smuggling heroin??

Yes, you can. Google Schapelle Corby a 33 y/o Australian citizen who is serving a 20-year sentence in Indonesia for a drug smuggling conviction in 2005. Although accounts and integrity evidence vary, Corby maintains that baggage handlers had planted the 9lbs of drugs in her unlocked bag. (Bagagge handlers have used unwitting passenger's bags to smuggle contraband).

Sadly, due to the structure Indonesian justice system, several forensic and evidentiary requests were not inherently a right of Corby. The Defense's access request for forensic evidence, such to have CCTV videos viewed, have the bag fingerprinted, and the drugs not analyzed to detrmine origin; were either not performed, not available, or denied outright. (The security cameras were not working the day she was arrested). Her bags were searched AFTER she was taken into custody, and were not weighed to detect a weight difference which may have indicated her luggage had been tampered with. Thus there is no conclusive forensic method to exculpate (or inculpate) Corby.

While this would be seen as a gross miscarriage of justice US, UK, Commonwealth and Western European justice systems, that is the way some countries operate and that not all have the same rules of evidence, due process, rights of the accused, etc. that many Western or Industialized countries do. Legal systems differ greatly, and what may be a misdemeanor in some parts of the world, could get you prison or death in others. However, their laws are their laws, and if one goes to that country, one must respect any obey the laws regardless of how you feel about them. I personally don't use/condone drugs and have no issues with places with tough drug laws, like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. However, I won't visit those places because there are laws, regulations, polictics, customs that I do not agree with, nor would I have the same legal rights and due process that would be afforded to me if at any point I become the victim of (or unjustly accused of a crime -- and this DOES happen). Sadly there are and have many cases like Corby's where people have been innocent or convicted of lesser crimes with spurious, little, or no evidence.

I don't know if she is guilty or not, but in the eyes of many justice systems, she has reasonable doubt...too bad that isn't enough to hel her where she is.

Heck, you can get the death penalty in some countries in SE Asia for drug smuggling! In 2005 an Australian (of Vietnamese descent) was executed in Singapore for drug smuggling. It was very sad because he had agreed to smuggle in order to pay off his brother's debts. Malaysian Airlines (and others) warn passengers of the severe penalties for bringing illegal drugs on a plane.

For that much heroin? Yeah, you can, even in America.

In "Return To Paradise", the potential penalty was worse. I don't know if that's true though.


😎

There are several countries where smuggling heroin, regardless of the amount, is punishable by death.