Woman Swallowed 1,200 Ecstasy Pills to Smuggle into Bali

(AFP) - A Thai woman swallowed more than 1,200 ecstasy pills wrapped in plastic and tried to smuggle them into the Indonesian resort island of Bali, officials said Monday.

Customs officials said the 24-year-old woman appeared nervous and was found to have a hard stomach during a body search at Bali's international airport as she arrived Thursday on a flight from Bangkok.

She was taken to the hospital where 1,280 ecstasy pills were found in her stomach, Bali customs chief Made Wijaya told a press conference.

"The pills were in a number of plastic wraps which she swallowed about 90 times," Wijaya said.

They weighed 402 grams and were worth about 448 million rupiah ($50,000) he said.

The woman, who claimed to be a dancer in Bangkok, told investigators that an Israeli man had offered to pay her $656 to deliver the pills to Bali, one of Asia's most popular destinations for Western tourists, Wijaya said.

If convicted she faces life imprisonment or death under Indonesia's tough anti-drug laws.

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