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Friday November 19, 2010

Thai waitress gets death for drug trafficking

KUALA LUMPUR: A 26-year-old Thai woman who swallowed 98 capsules containing cocaine was sent to the gallows after a High Court found her guilty of drug trafficking. Phrueksa Taemchim, who works as a waitress in Thailand, did not react when the sentence was translated to her by an interpreter.

High Court judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah ruled yesterday that the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt. Defence counsel K. Viknes told the court that his client was a first-time offender and had a child in Thailand. Phrueksa was charged with trafficking 713.8gm of cocaine at the Puduraya bus terminal at about 8.30am on July 3 last year.

It was learned that she had boarded a flight from Buenos Aires in Argentina to the KL International Airport (KLIA) before going to the bus terminal to make her way to Thailand. Phrueksa did not have any illegal items when she was arrested by police. However, an X-ray at Hospital Kuala Lumpur revealed the capsules.