Britons' drug trial postponed
Britons' drug trial postponed
BANGKOK (Reuter): The trial of two Britons charged with heroin trafficking was postponed yesterday because a defense witness failed to appear, officials at Bangkok's criminal court said.
They said the trial of Sandra Gregory, 29, from Halifax, and Robert Lock, 30 from Cambridge, would resume on May 3.
They were arrested at Bangkok airport in February 1993 on heroin trafficking charges when they were searched as they were about to board a flight to Japan. Gregory was found with 102 grams of heroin in her possession.
Gregory pleaded guilty while Lock pleaded innocent.
She told an earlier hearing that Lock had promised to pay her for carrying the drugs to Japan. Lock then accused Thai police of pressuring Gregory into testifying against him.
Heroin trafficking carries the death penalty in Thailand though the sentence is invariably commuted to a lengthy prison term.
;AFP;EGO; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Philippines-US RP, U.S. to review defense ties JP/11/ASEAN2
RP, U.S. to review defense ties
MANILA (AFP): Top Philippine and U.S. military officials are to meet here to review defense ties between the two countries, an armed forces spokesman said yesterday.
Philippine military spokesman Lt. Col. Leopoldo Maligalig said members of the Philippine-U.S. Mutual Defense Board are to hold the quarterly meeting today at the armed forces headquarters here.
Philippine armed forces chief Gen. Arturo Enrile, U.S. 13th Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Richard Swope and Lt. Gen. Robert Ord, chief of the U.S. Army Pacific Command, were expected to lead the delegations.
Maligalig said the two armies would exchange military information, update security assistance, and plan for the next joint military exercises.
It will be the board's seventh session since U.S. forces withdrew from the Philippines in 1992 after Manila terminated a lease on Washington's military bases, Maligalig said.
;AFP;EGO; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-China-Malaysia China investigates trawler incident JP/11/ASEAN3
China investigates trawler incident
BEIJING (AFP): China said yesterday that it was investigating a recent incident in which Malaysian navy patrol boats reportedly opened fire on an armed Chinese trawler that ignored warnings to stop in Malaysian waters.
"The relevant department of China is investigating the specifics of this incident," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman.
Malaysian police said on Monday that four of the 16 crew aboard the Swee Yee trawler were "slightly injured" during a two- hour chase drama off Malaysia's southern Sarawak state last Thursday.
A local police official said five AK-47 rifles, a machine gun and some ammunition were found aboard the trawler, which had been licensed by the Chinese government to carry arms for protection against pirates.
Malaysian navy patrol boats which chased the trawler issued repeated warnings before opening fire, the official said. The crew members are now being detained at a Sarawak police lock-up and are expected to be charged in court within two weeks, he said.
;AFP;EGO; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Singapore-murder Blood samples sought for evidence JP/11/ASEAN4
Blood samples sought for evidence
SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore has sought blood samples from family members of a South African engineer who is believed to have been murdered, dismembered and dumped in the sea here last week, police said yesterday.
Gerard George Lowe, a 32-year-old engineer with South African Breweries, disappeared after arriving in Singapore on March 8 for a shopping trip.
A week later, several body parts were found floating off a pier here, leading to press speculation that they were the remains of the South African.
Police said yesterday they were uncertain if Lowe had been murdered and had asked for blood samples from his parents, siblings and relatives in South Africa to do genetic tests on the recovered human parts. "The blood samples are on the way. We have not confirmed if the body (parts) belong to the South African," a police spokesman said. The Straits Times daily quoted a government pathologist, Chao Tzee Cheng, as saying that the blood samples could provide a "vital piece of evidence" to the case.