British woman held after smuggling £1.6m drugs haul into Bali

A BRITISH woman has been arrested for smuggling cocaine worth £1.6 million into the tropical island of Bali.

Lindsay Sandiford was confronted by the media at a press conference in Kuta, a holiday town on the Indonesian island.

The 56-year-old was pictured sat at a table surrounded by packages wrapped up in brown tape as a customs official cut them open with a knife.

Dressed in an orange inmate’s T-shirt, she was also photographed flanked by armed officers wearing black masks.

Sandiford was stopped with the 4.7kg haul in a suitcase as she arrived in Bali on a flight from Bangkok in Thailand on May 19, according to customs official Made Wijaya.

Three other Britons and an Indian national were believed to be the intended recipients and are being questioned.

Indonesia’s drug laws are draconian and anyone convicted of smuggling faces execution.

More than 140 people are on death row, a third of them foreigners.