A Turkish court sentenced two young French women to 10 years in prison for transporting nearly 25 kilograms of cannabis from Thailand, an AFP correspondent reported from the courtroom.
The pair was arrested on Feb. 28 during a stopover at Istanbul Airport while carrying two suitcases containing about 12 kilos of drugs each.
The women, named as Ibtissem B., 22, and Mariam N., 23, were also each ordered to pay a fine of TL 100,000 (around 1,990 euros).
The judge sentenced them on the charge of "drug transport rather than drug trafficking, which would have exposed them to a heavier sentence," Mariam's lawyer Umut Alikaşifoğlu said.
"The objective now is to obtain their transfer to a prison in France," he added.
Under Turkish law, cannabis trafficking is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, while cocaine trafficking carries a minimum sentence of 30 years, the lawyers said.
"Let us hope that the French and Turkish authorities quickly reach an agreement on their transfer," Ibtissem's French lawyer Carole-Olivia Montenot said.
The two women have been held for 10 months in Silivri prison, Turkey's largest detention facility, west of Istanbul. They have always claimed that they had no knowledge of what they were carrying.
