DENPASAR, DEWATA.NEWS – A 20-year-old Ukrainian woman, Kateryna Vakarova, stood trial at the Denpasar District Court on Tuesday, 2 December, after authorities accused her of attempting to smuggle two kilograms of narcotics into Bali via I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport.
During the hearing, Prosecutor I Made Dipa Umbara detailed the case before the panel of judges led by Ni Kadek Kusuma Wardani, S.H., M.H. The defendant was represented by legal aid attorneys from Posbakum Peradi Denpasar.
According to the prosecution, Vakarova, who works at a salon, was arrested on 3 August 2025 at around 01:00 WITA upon arrival at the airport’s international terminal. She had traveled on Qatar Airways flight QR260 from Warsaw–Doha to Denpasar.
Customs officers at Ngurah Rai Airport detected suspicious items in her suitcase during an X-ray scan. Inside, they found several metal boxes labeled AHMAD TEATEA, E.WEDEL, ALLNUTRION, CAROUSEL, ACTIVLAB, and ADALBERT’S, each containing white crystalline material. Laboratory tests confirmed the substance as 4-CMC, a Category I narcotic.
The total weight of the seized narcotics was 2,120 grams gross or 1,991.25 grams net.
Vakarova reportedly told investigators that she had been instructed to deliver the suitcase to a person waiting at Denays Guest House in Jimbaran. She claimed she received the assignment through the OLX application from an individual she had communicated with for a year but had never met. For the delivery, she was promised a payment of USD 500, approximately IDR 8 million.
The defendant did not file any objections to the charges, and the court scheduled the evidentiary hearing for next Tuesday.