Ex-police support officer facing
death penalty over drug claims

A British former police community support officer (PCSO) could face the death penalty for allegedly trafficking drugs worth more than £3,000 into Indonesia’s second-largest city.

Andrea Ruth Waldeck, who once worked for Gloucester Constabulary, was arrested in April after authorities found 1,472 grams (52 ounces) of methamphetamine crystals in her underwear at her hotel room in Surabaya, the capital of East Java province.

Prosecutor Deddy Agus Oktavianto said Miss Waldeck told authorities that her boyfriend, who lives in China, had ordered her to bring the drugs to a man in Indonesia in exchange for £3,100.

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Mr Oktavianto said Miss Waldeck’s trial had started on Monday at Surabaya district court and she is expected to give a statement in the next hearing on Monday.

A Gloucester Constabulary spokeswoman said: “We are aware that a former member of police staff has been arrested in Indonesia. She left the employment of Gloucestershire Constabulary in February 2012.”

According to the Jakarta Post, Mr Oktavianto said the defendant had violated articles 114 and 112 of the 2009 Narcotics Law, which carries a possible death sentence.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said it was providing consular assistance to Miss Weldeck.

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Prosecutors are objecting to the guilty pleas of two young British women caught trying to smuggle 24lb of cocaine out of Peru.

They will ask for a new hearing to give Michaella McCollum, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone and Melissa Reid of Glasgow the chance to offer a more complete confession and explain why they initially claimed they were coerced by a gang of armed men.

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