19 September 2012 :

a Malaysian court handed down a death sentence to a Japanese woman who was convicted of smuggling drugs into the country. Officials say that Mariko Takeuchi will be the first Japanese national to be executed for drug trafficking in Malaysia. 36 year old Takeuchi was arrested in October of 2009 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport with 3.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in her possession. A former nurse in Tokyo, she had arrived on a flight from Dubai with the drugs in a suitcase. In court, Takeuchi testified that a man tricked her into carrying the illegal substance into Malaysia, and she had no idea she was transporting drugs until her arrest. The court, led by Judge Siti Mariah Ahmad, dismissed her claims as fabrication.