Peter Lloyd, an ABC foreign correspondent, was arrested last week in Singapore. The 41 year old Aussie journalist is looking at 15 strikes with the cane and 20 years in prison after being arrested for supplying, possessing and trafficking ice.
According to News.com.au Lloyd is ordinarily based in New Delhi, however he was in Singapore getting treatment on an infected eye. He has been charged with trafficking approximately one gram of methamphetamine to a Singaporean man for 100 Singapore dollars ($75 AUD) at a hotel early this month. He’s also looking at a second charge of possession.
Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau searched and arrested Lloyd after a Singaporean man, who was found with 0.6g of ice in his apartment, named Lloyd as his supplier. Officers say he had a further 0.8g of ice plus one improvised smoking pipe and six syringes. Lloyd also later tested positive for amphetamines when they tested his urine.
The caning punishment in Singapore is more brutal than it sounds. He’ll be strapped to a frame and stripped, and will receive fifteen blows to his buttocks. Apparently the cane is soaked in water beforehand to make it more like a whip. A medical officer will check on him between strikes, they’ll cover parts of his body to prevent accidental organ damage, and the punishment will leave permanent scarring.
It’s thrown the ABC Breakfast programming into a tailspin. Apparently all at ABC are in shock, and are wondering how a man so well acquainted with drug laws in Asia could find himself on the wrong side of them. It’s ironic that he also reported on both Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine’s drug trials.
Lloyd has two children who live in Jakarta with their mother, his estranged wife Kirstyn. The ABC has sent Lloyd legal representation and he’s been offered bail. His case will next be mentioned Friday, July 25.
evilchris2 says...
I have no problem if someone who sells ice is repeatedly caning until they are permanently scarred. I actually wish the Australian policy had the same policy.
Lost Baggage says...
at least he could put some ice on the wounds after he gets caned