By NINIEK KARMINI<\/p>\n
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) \u2014 An American basketball player in the Indonesian league was arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the country, police said Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Southeast Asian country has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted smugglers are sometimes executed by firing squad.<\/p>\n
Jarred Dwayne Shaw, a 34-year-old former Santa Cruz Warrior from Dallas, was arrested May 7, after police raided his apartment in Tangerang regency, just outside the capital, Jakarta, and seized 132 pieces of cannabis candies, said Ronald Sipayung, the Soekarno-Hatta Airport police chief.<\/p>\n
The arrest followed a tip from the airport\u2019s customs that reported Shaw had received a suspicious airway package from Thailand, Sipayung said. Cannabis has been decriminalized in Thailand since November 2024. Under Indonesia\u2019s anti-drug laws, Shaw faces up to a life sentence or the death penalty if found guilty, Sipayung said.<\/p>\n
A video circulating on social media purportedly showed Shaw, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, resisting as he was being pushed away by police and shouting \u201cHelp \u2026 help!\u201d when he was about to be arrested.<\/p>\n
Shaw has played for several clubs in the Indonesian Basketball League since 2022, and signed a contract with Tangerang Hawks last year. He told police during interrogation that he wanted to share the cannabis candy with fellow basketball players, according to Sipayung.<\/p>\n
He said the candy contained a total gross weight of 869 grams (30.6 ounces) of illegal cannabinoid inside a package.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still running the investigation to uncover the international drugs network behind this case and to stop its distribution,\u201d Sipayung said.<\/p>\n
Shaw did not make any statement when he was presented by the authorities at a news conference Wednesday wearing an orange detainee T-shirt and a mask with his hands tied.<\/p>\n
Tangerang Hawks\u2019 manager, Tikky Suwantikno, told reporters on Thursday that they regretted what had been done by Shaw and the club had immediately fired him as he had breached the contract.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Basketball League banned Shaw from playing for life, said its chair, Budisatrio Djiwandono.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t tolerate players, administrators or anyone in the field involved in drugs. There is no room for drug users in the basketball world,\u201d Djiwandono said.<\/p>\n