20 years for Nepalese

DENPASAR, Bali: The local district court has sentenced a 21- year old Nepalese man to 20 years in prison for smuggling nearly five kilograms of heroin into the country.

The court found Bhisnu Bahadur Karki guilty of trying to bring in the contraband from Bangkok.

He was arrested last October as he arrived at the airport on board a Qantas airliner, the Antara news agency reported.

Bhisnu was listed as a resident of Bangkok and his occupation as a taxi driver.

According to the prosecution, he received $495 from a syndicate in Thailand to carry the heroin into Indonesia.

The defendant said he would appeal. (prs)