An Australian mother of three escaped the death penalty on Wednesday (December 27), after she was acquitted by a Malaysian court of drug-trafficking.

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, 54, was released after spending three years in prison. She was accused of drug trafficking after authorities found 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in her bag at Kuala Lumpur airport in December 2014. She was transiting through the Malaysian capital en route from Shanghai to Melbourne.

Under Malaysian law, anyone found guilty of possessing more than 50 grams of illegal drugs faces a mandatory death penalty by hanging. The law was amended last month to get rid of the mandatory death penalty, allowing judges discretion in sentencing but the changes have not yet come into effect.

Esposto’s lawyers have argued that she was the victim of an internet romance scam. They said she was lured into carrying a bag containing drugs unknowingly by a friend of her online boyfriend, who had claimed to be a U.S. soldier serving in Afghanistan. The judge referred Exposto to the immigration department for deportation.