09 September 2025 , 18:23
936
0
With fear evident on their faces, two Brits facing the death penalty in Bali for a £300,000 cocaine drug plot were today displayed in front of photographers.
Kial Robinson, 29, and Piran Ezra Wilkinson, 48, are currently detained by Bali’s Narcotic Agency. Today, the pair, both from Chichester, in West Sussex, were compelled to appear before media outlets on the paradise island. Dressed in orange prison jumpsuits, they were made to hold the illegal haul allegedly discovered in landscape gardener Robinson’s backpack when he was apprehended at Bali’s International Airport. He was reportedly carrying the 1.3kg package after boarding a Turkish Airlines flight from Barcelona on September 3.
He claimed he was offered $5,000 to distribute the drugs and was instructed to hand them to someone who would arrive at a villa in Mengwi, Badung, near Canggu, according to sources. Property manager Wilkinson was arrested at a villa in the early morning hours of September 4.
"Wilkinson said he was instructed by a man named Santos to take the cocaine from Barcelona to Bali to deliver it to a villa in Pererenan near Canggu," stated Mr. Rudi Sudrajati, chief of Bali’s Narcotics Board.
Police set up a sting operation and directed Robinson to proceed with the planned delivery to the villa, where Wilkinson was caught. Both face the potential death penalty if found guilty of the accusations.
The Narcotic Agency’s spokesperson, Made Dwi Saputra, only confirmed that two British nationals had been arrested. "On Tuesday, we will carry out a modest ceremony to destroy some narcotic evidence, as well as a press release on several cases," Made Dwi said.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: "We have been made aware of two British nationals who have been detained in Bali. We continue consular support for both and are in contact with the local authorities."
Indonesia has some of the strictest laws against drug smuggling and the crime carries a sentence of execution. In July, three Brits who had been warned they faced the death penalty for smuggling drugs into Bali hidden in Angel Delight packets were given just a one-year prison sentence.
The Indonesian court instead sentenced the three British nationals, all from Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex, who had been accused of drug trafficking on the resort island, to 12 months in prison.
Convicted drug traffickers, especially those caught with large quantities, have in the past been executed by firing squad in Indonesia - including foreign nationals. If the quantity is large but not enough for the death penalty, life imprisonment is a common sentence.
Head of Investigations