NZ woman arrested after drugs found in Indonesia


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BALI, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian authorities arrested a New Zealand woman for allegedly possessing illegal drugs in a raid on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, police and a lawyer said Friday.

Leeza Tracey Ormsby, 37, was caught Feb. 12, with a rolled marijuana cigarette in her bag after police raided a villa near the popular Kuta beach where she was staying, said chief of Bali's anti-drug police unit Capt. Agus Tri Waluyo. He said that the raid followed a tip from residents.

Waluyo said that police also found 27 grams (0.9 ounces) of hashish tablets and 132 grams (4.6 ounces) of MDMA, or Ecstasy pills, in the villa.

Police were still investigating whether the woman was a user or a drugs dealer, and she hasn't been charged yet. Officers also seized an electric scale, plastic wrappers and tape at the villa.

Her Indonesian lawyer, Ary Soenardi, said that his client was not a dealer.

He said that Ormsby has been held at Denpasar police headquarters on Bali and was very depressed after learning her case has been publicized.

Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and convicted smugglers are often executed. More than 140 people are on death row, mostly for drug crimes. About a third of them are foreigners.

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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