A U.S. basketball player competing in the Indonesian league has been taken into custody for allegedly trying to smuggle illegal drugs into the country, authorities reported on Thursday.
The South East Asian country has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted smugglers are sometimes executed by firing squad.
Jarred Dwayne Shaw, a 34-year-old from Dallas, Texas, was detained on May 7 following a police operation at his residence in Tangerang regency, which is near Jakarta. Officers uncovered 132 cannabis-infused candies during the raid, according to Ronald Sipayung, the head of Soekarno-Hatta Airport police.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for drug involvement, be it players, officials, or anyone associated with the sport. The basketball community has no place for drug users,” stated Djiwandono.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.
About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data showed. Indonesia’s last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
