Peruvian held at Bali airport with 232 g of Cannabis items dies in custody
Rodrigo Ventocilla, 32, a Peruvian Harvard student on his honeymoon, was detained at Denpasar's airport on 6 August 2022 after customs found cannabis items including 231.65 grams of edibles, and died in police custody five days later. His family alleges mistreatment and extortion; Bali police say he died of organ failure after taking unseized narcotics.
🇮🇩 I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar, Bali · Indonesia
Peruvian Rodrigo Ventocilla, a 32-year-old transgender activist studying at
Harvard University, was detained at Bali’s Denpasar-Ngurah airport on 6 August
2022.[1]His husband Sebastián Marallano arrived on a different flight and was
also detained when he tried to help him.[1]Peru’s foreign ministry said
Indonesian authorities reported that the detention followed the discovery in
their luggage of items containing traces of cannabis and various products made
from it.[1]
Ventocilla died in police custody at a hospital in Bali on 11 August.[1]A
Bali police spokesman said he died of failure of organs throughout his body.[1]The police account says he was taken to hospital after taking narcotics
that the search leading to his detention had not seized.[1]His family denied
the official version, accused the Indonesian police of mistreating him and of
blocking access to the lawyer assigned to him, and described his arrest as an
act of racial discrimination and transphobia.[1]The family said police in
Bali demanded exorbitant sums of money for the release of the two Peruvians;
police later denied accusations of violence.[1]
Peru’s foreign ministry rejected the family’s account and said it was publicly
known that Indonesia maintains a zero-tolerance policy on possession of drugs
and drug products.[1]Authorities seized several items suspected to contain
marijuana from Ventocilla, including an herb grinder and edibles weighing 231.65
grams, according to Bali police.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
2
Cannabis
231.65 g
Deaths
1
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (231.65 g); Edibles
Activity
Possession
Setting
Airport
Case stage
Under investigation
Sources
BBC News Mundobbc.comESRodrigo Ventocilla: la polémica muerte de un estudiante de Harvard trans peruano tras ser detenido por la policía en Bali
The Harvard Crimsonthecrimson.comPeruvian Government Rejects Allegations of Negligence from Family of Harvard Student who Died in Bali
Open questions the AI reported
No prosecution, charge or court outcome for the cannabis items was reported; Marallano was released and returned to Peru.
The 231.65 grams of edibles is the weight of seized items suspected to contain marijuana, not a laboratory-tested cannabis weight.
Whether the cannabis items belonged to Ventocilla or to Marallano, and what prescription medication the family referred to, was not established.
The cause of death is disputed: police cite organ failure after unseized narcotics, the family alleges mistreatment and extortion, and no independent autopsy was permitted in Indonesia.
The family's statement and the Peruvian ministry's statement are reported indirectly through media; no separate Indonesian police statement could be opened.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in The Harvard Crimson: A police spokesperson said the cause of death was a complete failure of body function leading to impaired kidney, liver and nervous-system function.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in The Harvard Crimson: Marallano was released and returned to Peru.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in The Harvard Crimson: The family said Indonesian officials have not allowed an independent autopsy, so the real cause of death remains unknown.
Panyabungan police stopped a motorcycle on 10 November 2026 and detained a 25-year-old Agam man with 25 bales of dried cannabis. A companion was reported to have fled, and no charge has been filed.
Jayapura prosecutors destroyed evidence from 41 final criminal cases on 10 November 2026, including 21 cannabis cases. The destroyed cannabis weighed 0.21 grams, alongside sabu and other criminal evidence.
Indonesia's narcotics agency destroyed more than four tons of ready-to-harvest cannabis on 2.5 hectares in the mountains of Desa Pulo Lamteba, Aceh Besar. Officers uprooted and burned the plants on site after a week-long investigation; no owner was found.
In an early-morning chase on 20 August 2026, North Sumatra narcotics officers stopped two men on a motorcycle near Panyabungan with about 15.3 kg of dried cannabis; one suspect, identified as ZI, died from a gunshot wound after allegedly attacking officers with a blade, and his companion MAL was detained.
