Nigerians executed in Indonesia

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Two Nigerian convicts have been executed in Indonesia, seven years after being caught trying to smuggle heroin into the country.

Samuel Okoye and Hansen Nwaolisa were executed by firing squad in the early hours of Friday, officials said.

The executions were timed to mark the UN anti-drugs day, Indonesia's anti-narcotics agency reportedly said.

Drug traffickers are often sentenced to death in Indonesia, but the penalty has not been carried out since 2004.

The two men, aged 37 and 40, have been held at a high-security prison on Nusakambangan island, central Java, since their conviction for trying to smuggle some 7kg (16lb) of heroin into Indonesia.

"A firing squad of 12 people executed them in an outdoor area some 3km [2 miles] away from their prison," provincial prisons chief Bambang Winahyo told AFP news agency.

The two had made pleas for clemency to the president in 2004, but they were turned down.