A 22-year-old Sydney woman may be facing the death penalty in China, after she was allegedly caught trying to smuggle 75kg of methamphetamine out of the country.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Kalynda Davis was reported missing from her Glenmore Park home on November 5, before her family discovered several days later that she was in custody in China.
Davis and 25-year-old Sydney man Peter Gardner were arrested and charged after trying to smuggle a “commercial quantity” of ice from Guangzhou to Australia.
China’s drug laws are particularly strict, and state that “people found guilty of possessing more than 50 grams of meth or heroin, or other narcotic drugs of “large quantities”, could be subject to the death penalty.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are presently offering assistance to nine Australians detained in China on drug charges. Gardner and Davis will reportedly face court this week, and if found guilty, could potentially face death by firing squad.
Davis was an avid social media user, although her profiles have recently been shut down, and her family have not offered any comment. Friends of the talented basketball player say that this arrest is “devastating” and “so very out of character.”
The southern Chinese province of Guandong is reportedly a hub for methamphetamine production, and hundreds of foreign citizens have been arrested there on drug charges in recent times.
In September of this year, DFAT issued a travel advisory warning travelers of the “substantial risks” involved with carrying packages for others “which may conceal narcotics.”
Travel safe, everyone.
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