Charged ... Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, 51, arrives at the Magistrate Court in Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur on December. Picture: AFP/ Mohd Rasfan Source: AFP

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto appeared calm as she appeared in a Kuala Lumpur court on charges of allegedly having 1.5kg of methamphetamine in hand luggage as she transited through the international airport en route to Australia.

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Fronts court ... Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, 51, leaves her lawyer's room at the Magistrate Court in Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur. Picture: AFP/ Mohd Rasfan Source: AFP

The court heard she has now been provisionally charged with drug trafficking, under section 39 (b) of Malaysia’s harsh Dangerous Drugs Act, which carries the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking of more than 50 grams.

She will be formally charged once the laboratory tests on the methamphetamine or ice found in her bag have been forensically tested.

Outside court her lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said Exposto’s chances of acquittal of the deadly charges was “very good”.

“She is a mule, completely without knowledge,” Mr Shafee said.

“She has got more than a 50 per cent chance of being acquitted because of lack of knowledge.”

He reiterated claims made earlier that Exposto is a drug mule and had no idea that one of the two bags of hand luggage she was carrying contained the drugs in a concealed compartment. She was given the bag at Shanghai airport by an unidentified man and asked to bring it to Australia.

Charged ... Exposto, has been provisionally charged with drug trafficking. Picture: AFP/ Mohd Rasfan Source: AFP

Next step ... Exposto, will be formally charged once the laboratory tests on the methamphetamine or ice found in her bag have been forensically tested. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

Exposto, a 51-year-old mother and grandmother from Liverpool in southwest Sydney, was arrested on December 7 at Kuala Lumpur International airport. She had flown in on a flight from Shanghai and was in transit before catching a connecting Malaysian Airlines flight to Melbourne.

She was arrested at the customs counter as she attempted to exit the airport.

Mr Shafee said Exposto had mistakenly followed the crowd through Customs to exit the airport and had voluntarily placed both pieces of her hand luggage on the scanner. He said that she had not even been required to place the bags on the scanner at the time.

“She wasn’t even asked, she put two bags if I am not mistaken and that’s how this thing was discovered. If she is a person conscious of the content (she) will probably put the bag that is not the drug. She put both voluntarily,” Mr Shafee said.

He said his client had told him that she was innocent of the charge. And that when the drugs were discovered she had been surprised and asked to see it.

Grave concerns ... Exposto could face the death penalty. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

“Her remark to me was ‘but I am innocent, I don’t know’. I said we have to prove that,” Mr Shafee said.

Mr Shafee said that Exposto’s response, from the beginning when he told her she was facing a serious charge, was “but I am innocent”.

“She said I can’t be involved because I have told my children, even when they are growing up, if they ever get involved in drugs I will kill them,” he said.

Mr Shafee said that Exposto, a Timorese Australian, was well-regarded in her native East Timor

A group of supporters had signed and sent a petition to the Malaysian court and to himself, attesting to her exemplary good character and told of her work with an anti-human trafficking network in East Timor.

In court today the charges were formerly read to Exposto. She did not reply, on the instruction of her lawyers.

She will appear again on January 23 for further mention of the case.