MALAYSIAN WOMEN JAILED IN ITALY AFTER BEING TRICKED BY DRUG SINDICATE

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 (Bernama) -- Two Malaysian women are languishing in
jail in Italy after they were tricked into carrying cocaine into that country
last year.

Rasundiri Ganapathi, 50, and her friend Darina Ibrahim, 43, flew into Milan,
Italy, in May last year after they were persuaded by two foreign men who
promised to help them expand their textile business, Rasundiri's husband
Mahinder Singh said.

"My wife told me she and Darina would be going to Bangkok to check on the
textiles there.

"Then, two weeks later to my utter shock, I received a call from the Italian
authorities informing me about my wife's arrest," he told a news conference at
the Umno Youth community complaints bureau here.

He said his wife told him that when they arrived in Bangkok, the two men
took them to Milan, claiming that the fabrics there were of better quality.


"My wife did not realise that the syndicate had hidden drugs inside the
luggage bags containing the textiles," he said.

Prior to the incident, he said, the suspects had been coming to their house
to order shirts.

They later offered to invest into the business on conditions that the
textiles must be sourced from overseas.

The bureau's chairman Muhd Khairun Aseh said it would appoint lawyers
to defend the two victims.

-- BERNAMA