A 73-year-old Japanese man arrested last year on Indonesia's Sumatra Island for drug trafficking on Tuesday pleaded innocent to the charge.
Masaru Kawada, from Aichi Prefecture, was arrested at Minangkabau International Airport in the West Sumatra provincial capital of Padang on Nov. 22 upon arrival from Kuala Lumpur after customs officials discovered 2.7 kg of methamphetamine in his luggage.
He went on trial two weeks ago in Pariaman, a small town about 50 km from Padang.
Government prosecutors said in their indictment early this month that in mid-November, a man identified as Edward Mark called Kawada at his home in Japan and requested him to travel to Macau. Mark paid for his flight ticket, accommodations in Hong Kong and gave him a $500 travel allowance.
Kawada told Kyodo News in a telephone interview Tuesday that a Chinese woman he met in Macau asked him to carry the bag in which the drugs were later found to her friend in Padang.
"I don't know who the lady was, as well as the contents of the bag," he said in Japanese from a detention room at the Pariaman District Court.
"At first, I refused, but the lady told me that she would pay for my flight ticket, my accommodation in Padang and give me $200 in cash, so I agreed," Kawada added.
He then flew to Padang from Macau via Kuala Lumpur. He claimed he only realized he was carrying methamphetamine after customs officials in Padang arrested him and confiscated his bag.
"I was duped," he said.
Kawada faces the death penalty if found guilty.