German woman has drug-trafficking charges reduced; avoids death penalty

Mar 28, 2002

By ALEXA OLESEN, 

 SINGAPORE - A German woman accused of trafficking drugs in Singapore was spared the death sentence after charges against her were reduced in pretrial proceedings Thursday.

 Julia Suzanne Bohl, 23, and three Singaporean suspects are accused of running a ring that supplied drugs to bars and nightclubs in the city-state, where drug dealers and users are punished harshly.

 Bohl, whose home town was not immediately known, still faces at least 10 years in prison if convicted of the charges against her � three charges of trafficking cannabis and other drugs, one charge of consumption and 10 charges of possession.

 The charges against her previously included trafficking 687 grams (24.23 ounces) of cannabis. If convicted, she would have faced death by hanging in Singapore, where trafficking at least 500 grams (17.64 ounces) of cannabis carries a mandatory death sentence.

 But that charge was split into separate charges after tests determined that two substances were present in the stash of drugs seized by police.

 Her bail was set Thursday at 150,000 Singapore dollars (dlrs 82,417). Her fourth court appearance is scheduled for April 11.

 Bohl has been in Singapore for the past 2 1/2 years studying at the Singapore German School.