ISTANBUL — A Thai woman caught smuggling cocaine from Brazil to Vietnam was sentenced to 10 years in a Turkish prison Tuesday.
Porntiwa Salarat, 23, was sentenced to 12 years and assessed a fine of 4,500 Turkish Lira (67,500 baht) at Bakirkoy Criminal Court in Istanbul. Two years were cut from her term for good behaviour in court.
Arrested in June, Porntiwa did not assist in her own defence, her lawyer said.
"She did not give me any details to try to help her. It was kind of weird," said Samet Ahlatci, who was assigned to her by the association of advocates. "When the translator told her 'you will be jailed for 10 years,' she just laughed."
Before her June 14 arrest, Porntiwa had travelled to several destinations, including Oman, where she stayed a few days because her African boyfriend bought her airline tickets for a holiday. Then she travelled to Sao Paulo. Her first nine days in Brazil were like a holiday, she said, but the following seven days were a nightmare.
According to her statement, one of two Africans gave her a red carry-on bag on her last day in the South American country. Nothing was inside.
They told her that she was going to Vietnam. She packed her belongings and went to the Sao Paulo airport and departed for Vietnam via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines.
During her layover, police at Ataturk International Airport said she was acting strangely. Officers brought in drug-sniffing dogs and searched her clothes and baggage. They found more than one kilogramme of cocaine.