Brazilian tourist, 19, could face death penalty in Bali after being accused of drug smuggling

A teenage tourist could face death by firing squad after allegedly smuggling drugs into Bali.

Brazilian Manuela Vitoria de Araujo Farias, 19, was found with 3kg of cocaine in her luggage after landing in Bali on January 27 but claims she was tricked into importing the drug haul by a gang.

Farias could face the death penalty if found guilty. Photo / Bali Police

Trafficking drugs is punishable by the death penalty in Indonesia.

Farias’ lawyer said she was only visiting the island to visit temples where monks pray for the sick, as her mother recently suffered a stroke, the Bali Times reported.

“They said that she could pray in the temples to ask for her mother’s healing,” the lawyer said.

Manuela Vitoria de Araujo Farias, 19, claims she was tricked by a gang.

She flew into Bali from Brazil via Qatar, but the drugs were not detected until she landed on the holiday island.

Australian tourist Jeffrey Welton, a 52-year-old surf instructor from Perth, dodged the death penalty last month after getting caught with meth and heroin.

He was sentenced to eight months in a rehab facility rather than face a firing squad.

He was arrested in September when he was found with 8g of heroin and 0.34g of methamphetamine in a condom at Bali’s Inter­national Airport after flying in from Vietnam.

His lawyers on Tuesday successfully convinced three judges to treat Welton as an addict, rather than a drug smuggler.

Welton is now in Bali’s Anargya Sober House.

Narcotics laws in Indonesia are notoriously strict, with the amount of drugs smuggled normally earning those convicted anywhere from five years in prison to a death sentence.

Welton had been living on the tourist island periodically over the past decade.