A South African woman is facing the death penalty in Indonesia after she was caught with 6kg of crystal meth, locally known as tik, at Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado earlier this month.
Donja Preston, 22, was arrested in Manado earlier this month, allegedly with drugs in her possession. The Kroonstad-native’s friends and family had tried right up until the very last moment to stop her from taking the trip and had even involved local law enforcement, but all to no avail.
On 17 August her mother, Margaret, received an anonymous phone call informing her that her daughter was dead, she only learned recently that Donja was still alive and was being detained.
“My child must just come home. Once she’s at home, I can promise you that she’ll never go anywhere else again. She just has to come home first,” said her mother.
Margaret has since gone to SA’s administrative capital, Pretoria, to see what she can do to help her daughter from there.
“You can’t know how it feels. I am so bitter. I’m am so bitter towards the people she got mixed up with,” she added.
It is believed that Donja had gotten involved with Nigerian drug-gangs who coerced her to attempt the drug run. She allegedly made the trip from SA with the drugs in her possession, passing through security and customs at OR Tambo without a hitch. From there, she flew via Singapore to Indonesia.
A friend of Donja’s claims that he learned about her involvement with the gangs and that she would be a drug mule, departing on a certain day. He approached the police for assistance two months prior to her departure, the unit for criminal intelligence was also involved. The acting commander of the latter unit however, did not think the case was serious enough.
There have also been unconfirmed allegations that a man was taken into custody with Donja at the time of her arrest.
Donja has a one-year-old daughter who is currently being looked after by her mother, Margaret.
