Former college basketball star Jarred Shaw could face the death penalty following an arrest in Indonesia.
Shaw, who played for Oklahoma State and Utah State before a short spell in the G-League, was arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs into the country.
Reports note that he was apprehended in Jakarta this week after police intercepted a package sent from Thailand containing 132 pieces of cannabis candy.
Police chief Ronald FC Sipayung said that “An offense involving candies containing Delta 9 THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) implicating basketball athlete JDS (Jarred Dwayne Shaw) was handled by the Narcotics Unit of Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police.”
USA Today reports that, according to Sipayung, the 34-year-old could face life in prison or the death penalty if found guilty.
Jarred Shaw Said To Have Made Admissions After His Arrest
Local website Bola.com states that Shaw admitted ordering the candies from a friend and was planning to distribute them to other basketball players in Indonesia.
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Michael Tandayu, the head of airport police narcotics, said Shaw would be charged “in connection with the alleged occurrence of criminal acts in terms of acts of offering for sale, selling, buying, acting as an intermediary in buying and selling, exchanging, handing over, or receiving narcotics.”
The charges carry a minimum of six years in prison, per Indonesian law, though the country also used a firing squad to execute drug offenders just nine years ago.
Jarred Shaw played for the Tangerang Hawks in Indonesia, but his contract was terminated because of his arrest, which constitutes a violation.
“We take this matter very seriously and deeply regret the violation of the law committed by Jarred Shaw,” Hawks manager Tikky Suwantikno said.
The Associated Press reported last December that around 530 people were on death row in Indonesia for drug-related offenses, with 96 of them foreigners.
