A British mum facing the death penalty in Bali for allegedly smuggling cocaine in packets of Angel Delight insists she was “framed”. Lisa Stocker says she was the victim of a stitch-up after authorities claimed she entered the Indonesian island with £300,000 worth of narcotics disguised as the popular dessert.
Ms Stocker told Denpasar Central Court: “The packages were not mine, but someone else’s,” adding: “I was framed.” Stocker and her partner Jon Collyer, both 39 and from East Sussex, were arrested at Denpasar International Airport in Bali on Sunday, February 1.
Prosecutors claimed they had flown from the UK via Qatar and were stopped at an X-ray machine after customs officers found suspicious items in their luggage.
Prosecutor, I Made Dipa Umbara, told Denpasar’s District Court a lab test result confirmed 10 sachets of Angel Delight powdered dessert mix in Mr Collyer’s luggage combined with seven similar sachets in his partner’s suitcase contained 993.56 grams (2.19 pounds) of cocaine, worth an estimated six billion rupiah (around £271,729).
Two days later, 31-year-old Phineas Ambrose Float was arrested, accused of receiving the packages in an airport hotel on February 3. Police had reportedly used Ms Stoker and Mr Collyer in a sting operation to lure Float, which led to his arrest on drugs charges as well, reports The Mirror.
Mr Float, also from East Sussex, is being tried separately.
Ms Stocker claimed a third man had given her 17 packets of Angel Delight, and instructed her to ship them to Asia.
“Jon and I had been to Bali twice carrying packages from him,” she said, adding: “I was shocked after finding out it was cocaine.”
Mr Collyer said he had paid for the Bali holiday himself, and said that third man told him “the package contained snacks, such as chocolate, pudding and chips”.
But prosecutor Made Umbara claims the man gave Mr Collyer £2,130 to cover the pair’s flights and accommodation.
Mr Float told the court he “took the packages from Jonathan and Lisa after getting a message from [him]”, adding: “I wanted to help a friend and did not know it was cocaine.”
He said he was shocked Ms Stocker was involved in any alleged trafficking plot as she “chose to live a healthy life,” as per The Sun.
Under Indonesian law, the heaviest possible punishment for taking part in a drug transaction is capital punishment.
But the government has paused the death penalty since 2017, and a number of high-profile foreign nationals convicted of drug offences have been repatriated to their home countries in recent months by the country’s president, Prabowo Subianto.
The trial will continue on Tuesday, June 17.