KUALA LUMPUR - A Japanese nurse was sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia on Tuesday for drug trafficking,

36-year-old Mariko Takechi the first Japanese national to be convicted of drug trafficking charge and first sentenced to death, was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on October 31, 2009 for carrying 3.5 kilograms of Methamphetamines from Dubai.

The high court judge in delivering the verdict rejected Takeuchi's testimony that the luggage in which the drugs were found wasn't hers and that she had delivered the luggage from Dubai as a favour for an Iranian acquaintance she met there.

Prosecutor said Takeuchi could have noted "how heavy the bag was although she could not see the drugs from the outside," considering the drugs weighed more than three kilograms.

"Takeuchi said she took the bag from a friend but she didn't name him, so according to the judge, her story was suspicious and that was one of the grounds for her to impose the sentence," Takeuchi's lawyer Mohamad Rafik Rahem said.

"We have actually tried our best as we created a lot of loopholes to the prosecution's case, unfortunately the judge didn't want to buy it," he added.

Mohamad Rafik said the defense has applied for the execution to be suspended so the lawyers could appeal the verdict in the next two weeks.