A Thai court Thursday commuted to life terms death sentences on two Nepalis convicted of trafficking heroin, AP reported from Bangkok.
A Briton and Dutchman were also given life sentences. The Nepalis were identified as Hari Bahadur Gurung and Pore Ghale. The four were found guilty of conspiring to smuggle 4.3 kilograms of heroin through Bangkok’s international airport in October. A Thai woman, who was a fifth defendant in the case, was acquitted but was ordered held pending an appeal by the state prosecutor. All five of the accused had pleaded innocent to the charges. The attorneys for the four men said they will appeal.
Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the Briton, Dutchman and the woman at Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport with a suitcase filled with heroin. The three had been tailed from a hotel where Gurung and Ghale had allegedly delivered the suitcase.
The Nepalis told the court they were stopped on the street by another foreigner and asked them to deliver the suitcase to the two Europeans.