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Remanded in custody ... Sydney grandmother Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto faces the death penalty after being allegedly caught with drugs in Malaysia. Picture: Facebook Source: Facebook
AN AUSTRALIAN grandmother says she was set up and is the innocent victim of drug mules as she faces the death penalty after being allegedly caught with methamphetamine in Malaysia.
Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, 51, from Liverpool in south-western Sydney, could be hanged for allegedly moving 1.5kg of methamphetamine — more commonly known as ice — through Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport last week.
Death penalty ... the 51-year-old could face the hangman’s noose. Picture Supplied Source: Supplied
Mrs Pinto Exposto was travelling on Malaysia Airlines Flight 387 en route from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur where it stopped over and was scheduled to continue through to Melbourne.
Her legal team said she had in her possession a bag of documents she had collected from Shanghai.
It is claimed the documents were for her fiancee — an American soldier serving in Afghanistan — and related to his impending retirement.
When inspected by Malaysian customs staff, the backpack was allegedly found to contain men’s clothing, which her lawyers say did not belong to her, and drugs in a specially stitched compartment.
The Australian High Commission has engaged high-profile Malaysian lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Sydney-born Tania Scivetti to represent Mrs Pinto Exposto.
Mr Shafee said his client volunteered her bags to customs officials at the airport before they discovered the drugs.
Defence team ... Maria Pinto Exposto's lawyers Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Australian Tanya Scivetti in Kuala Lumpur. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied
“There is a very strong chance that she is one of those naive and innocent mules that has been used by some unscrupulous people — she doesn’t seem to know what is going on,’’ Mr Shafee said.
Other cases ... Maria Pinto Exposto’s legal team has previously saved the lives of two Australians charged with drug offences. Picture Supplied Source: Supplied
The legal team has previously saved the lives of two Australians charged with drug offences.
Victorian mother-of-eight Emma L’Auguille spent 115 days in a Malaysian prison after police charged her with drug trafficking.
She was set free in 2012.
After a two year legal saga, Perth man Dominic Bird also had his charges dropped after he was accused of selling 167g of ice to an undercover policeman.
Malaysia has a hard line approach to drugs and implemented the death penalty for such offences in 1983.
Meth haul ... the drugs were allegedly found in a specially stiched compartment in a backpack at Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport. Source: Supplied
Anyone caught carrying more than 50g of a drug is considered a trafficker and can be sent to the gallows.
Two Australians, Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers, were executed in 1986 after they were caught with 141.9 grams of heroin on the island of Penang.
The case comes just one week after Australian woman Kalynda Davis, 22, and her travelling partner, New Zealand national Peter Gardner, 25, were held in China on suspicion of smuggling ice.
Ms Davis has since returned home to Sydney, but Mr Gardner has been held in detention for more than five weeks and his fate was expected to be determined yesterday.
There are allegations he was involved in a drug-smuggling plot which Ms Davis knew nothing about.
Ms Pinto Exposto was remanded in custody and is likely to be charged at her next court appearance scheduled in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.