Russian receives 17 year jail sentence for drug trafficking

balinews

A Russian national was sentenced to 17 years prison for trying to smuggle 2.9 kilograms of cannabis infused toothpaste, into Bali. Roman Kalashnikov, 29, was convicted on Monday in Denpasar District Court and was also punished with a fine of Rp 2 billion—or he’ll face an additional four months locked up if he doesn’t pay it. “The defendant is legitimately and convincingly guilty of bringing, ‘imported’ narcotics, type hashish, a violation of Article 113 Paragraph 2 of Law Number 35 Year 2009 on Narcotics,” Denpasar Chief Justice Partha Bhargawa said on Monday, as quoted by Republika. While a 17-year sentence is quite the chunk of time, it’s actually lighter than the 20 years that prosecutors had requested. And what’s 17 years really, when he could have actually been charged with the death penalty, which can be imposed under Indonesian law when violators are caught trafficking more than one kilogram of a type I narcotic. The Russian was apparently sentenced below the maximum 20 years that prosecutors charged him with because he was polite during trial, admitted his guilt, and had no prior convictions in Indonesia. Such displays of leniency are fairly routine in Denpasar court if defendants are well behaved, confess, and don’t have a record. https://coconuts.co/bali/news/bali-court-hands-17-year-prison-sentence-russian-carried-2-9-kilos-cannabis-toothpaste-tubes/

harryopal

Pardon my ignorance but how on earth would you use toothpaste cannabis? Use it as a spread on cannabish cookies? And you would need to be a good salesperson to market it. Can you see him sidling up to a tourist in a bar and saying something like, "Hey, Baby. Wanna come and brush your teeth with me?"

davita

How stupid or crazy...in most of Canada and USA you can get cannabis anywhere. In contrast he probably would have been prosecuted there, under copyright law, by the manufacturers of whitening toothpaste. It's a pity they didn't print a picture...I'd like to see how white were his teeth and.....does it work?

JohnnyCool

Somebody, (not necessarily RK29), probably had some chemistry knowledge. Oil and water generally don’t mix. Hashish oil and toothpaste? Depends on what kind of “toothpaste” and its ingredients. I’m pretty sure that there would be ways to separate the oil without having a PhD in chemical engineering. I wonder what toothpaste RK29 will get in jail. He’ll also have 17 years to get his PhD (maybe).