JAKARTA, 22 May 2006 - An Australian woman arrested with a small amount of marijuana on the Indonesian island of Lombok faces court on Monday, with the possibility of a 10-year jail sentence. Local resident Barbara Kathleen Higgs, 43, was arrested in February, allegedly with 50 grams of cannabis and two small bags of seeds, at the resort beach of Sengiggi, where she part-owns a hotel named the Bulan Baru, or New Moon.

Higgs, originally from Pinjarra in Western Australia, is being held at a women's jail in the Lombok capital Mataram. Her arrest followed a nationwide drug crackdown in Indonesia ordered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Lombok police said Higgs, who has lived with her New Zealand husband in Lombok for five years, admitted buying the drug from a friend in Senggigi for 500,000 rupiah (45 euro).

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