Ozzie Backpackers Face Firing Squad

[Charles]

9 Australians arrested for smuggling heroin into Bali

Police in Bali have begun to build a criminal case against nine young Australians who could face a firing squad if they're found guilty of trying to smuggle millions of dollars worth of heroin onboard a flight from Indonesia to Sydney.

The Federal Police have been calling it a 'sophisticated syndicate', but Bali Police say for most part, for those involved, it was their first trip to Indonesia.

Two of the four detained at the airport were 19 and both from Brisbane. The others were a 29-year-old from Towradgi near Wollongong and a 27-year-old woman from Wallsend in Newcastle.

A fifth man was arrested at the airport and shortly afterwards four others, three in their twenties and one aged 18 were arrested at a Bali hotel on Kuta Beach.

(Sound of laughing)...

...In recent years, courts across the country have passed a dozen death sentences on foreigners found guilty of serious drug offences. ...more...

[Mulboyne]

ABC: Govt accused of exporting death penalty
A civil libertarian wants the Federal Government to clarify its position on the death penalty after nine Australians were arrested in Bali for heroin smuggling. Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman says it appears they were about to board a plane to Australia when they were arrested. Mr O'Gorman says he cannot understand why the Australian Federal Police (AFP) passed information to Indonesian authorities rather than waiting to make the arrest themselves. He says then they could have faced the Australian justice system....He says if the Federal Government was opposed to the death penalty it should have waited until the group was on Australian soil. "If we're in effect exporting the death penalty of Australians to other countries and if there has in effect, been a change in Government policy, then let's hear about it."
...Mike Phelan from the AFP has defended the fact that the arrests took take place in Indonesia, where the death penalty applies for drug offences..."Letting narcotics run live under any circumstances is extremely dangerous and it's always important to be able to interdict them at first possible opportunity."
...The Federal Opposition has described as "nitpicking" concerns that the nine Australians accused of trafficking heroin were arrested in Bali and not Australia. Leader Kim Beazley says "I think it's a bit nitpicking to worry about where the folk were arrested and of course, if the issue ends up as being one of whether or not a death penalty would apply, well I would expect the Australian Government to make the strongest possible representations to Indonesia that this not be so, and that a jail term be the operative outcome," he said.

[AssKissinger]

9 Australians arrested for smuggling heroin into Bali

Police in Bali have begun to build a criminal case against nine young Australians who could face a firing squad if they're found guilty of trying to smuggle millions of dollars worth of heroin onboard a flight from Indonesia to Sydney.

If the flight was from Indonesia to Sydney how could they have been trying to smuggle smack into Bali

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Illness strikes Bali drug smuggling suspects

Four of nine Australians accused of heroin smuggling in Bali were taken to hospital today, with a psychiatrist brought in to treat others for signs of depression.

Alleged gang "godfather" Andrew Chan was briefly taken in a police wagon to Bhayangkara Trijata Hospital near Bali Police Headquarters to be treated for flu and asthma, receiving oxygen in a half-hour consultation.

He appeared to be shaking and crying as he was led back to headquarters for a planned interrogation.

As well as Chan, Sydney men Myuran Sukumaran, 24, and Matthew Norman, 18, were treated for minor throat ailments, while Brisbane man Michael Czugaj requested vaccination shots.

Norman told his lawyers "each day I'm feeling worse and worse" as he complained of coughing fits, aches and nausea.

What can a psychiatrist do for stupidity?

[amdg]

while Brisbane man Michael Czugaj requested vaccination [against gun] shots.

Fixed

[Charles]

9 Australians arrested for smuggling heroin into Bali

Police in Bali have begun to build a criminal case against nine young Australians who could face a firing squad if they're found guilty of trying to smuggle millions of dollars worth of heroin onboard a flight from Indonesia to Sydney.

If the flight was from Indonesia to Sydney how could they have been trying to smuggle smack into Bali

The Balinese government says there are no drugs on Bali, so they obviously had to bring the heroin into Bali before exporting it elsewhere.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I'll feel bad for them if they get the death penalty, but man they are fucking stupid.

[ichigo partygirl]

the most amusing thing about this is that the auzzie government basically handed them to the firing squad. It was they who provided the info to the bali authorites. If they had waited for them to get home they would be facing heavy fines and prision terms, but since they were apprehended in bali they will probably face the firing squad.

Hopefully that will deter other young aussies - i mean these guys are mostly in their early 20s and they have ruined their lives.
What losers

[kurohinge1]

I don't know what's the sadest:

1. The stupidity of the young mules (I don't pity the organisers)
2. The Feds hanging them out to dry in Indonesia
3. Charles' sickening schadenfreude

[FG Lurker]

I don't know what's the sadest:

1. The stupidity of the young mules (I don't pity the organisers)
2. The Feds hanging them out to dry in Indonesia
3. Charles' sickening schadenfreude

I don't find stupidity sad... If they are removed from the gene pool it will only serve to improve the average quality of that which remains.

I find #2 pretty surprising. It almost looks like someone had an axe to grind with one of the members -- maybe they didn't get the payoff money they were expecting, something like that. Otherwise it's hard to imagine why anyone would have contacted Bali...It's not like they wouldn't have arrived in Australia a few hours later anyway.

For #3, well... Charles has time and again shown his blanket hatred for an entire country of people. Yet he still manages to garner a certain amount of respect here on FG. Maybe that's the saddest thing of all?

[Edited to make #3 more precise.]

[kurohinge1]

... it's hard to imagine why anyone would have contacted Bali...It's not like they wouldn't have arrived in Australia a few hours later anyway...

Less paper work

And less cost to the Aussie taxpayers

The latest SMH article suggest that 4 of the 9 were coerced by Sukumaran (also in custody):

... For 10 days before their arrest on April 17, Sukumaran and Chan stayed at the expensive Hard Rock Hotel. The others stayed in cheaper hotels. Police said that Sukumaran and Chan threatened Lawrence, Stephens, Rush and Czugaj when they delivered the heroin, hours before their flight.

The four's lawyers, Anggia Browne and Ruben Luther Sang, said their clients had no idea they would be smuggling heroin until the visit. Ms Browne said Lawrence and Stephens told police that when they saw the heroin they wanted to pull out.

They were shown photographs of their families and told: "We know where they live. We can get to them anytime we want." ...

This may simply be another case where my signature applies ...

[FG Lurker]

... it's hard to imagine why anyone would have contacted Bali...It's not like they wouldn't have arrived in Australia a few hours later anyway...

Less paper work

And less cost to the Aussie taxpayers

Well, there will probably be quite a lot of paperwork involved in explaining this now, not to mention a considerable amount of embarrassment.

Likely the Aussie taxpayer will end up footing the legal bills for the arrested group now, as well as a fair amount of money on diplomats trying to get them out of Bali and back to Australia.

(I realize that your comments above were at least somewhat tongue-in-cheek!)

This may simply be another case where my signature applies ...

It is certainly shaping up that way!

[AssKissinger]

9 Australians arrested for smuggling heroin into Bali

Police in Bali have begun to build a criminal case against nine young Australians who could face a firing squad if they're found guilty of trying to smuggle millions of dollars worth of heroin onboard a flight from Indonesia to Sydney.

If the flight was from Indonesia to Sydney how could they have been trying to smuggle smack into Bali

The Balinese government says there are no drugs on Bali, so they obviously had to bring the heroin into Bali before exporting it elsewhere.

That doesn't sit right with me. And neither does this case http://www.gwinnettdailyonline.com/GDP/archive/article60F05ECE6EBC40E68561FE75741AB6F7.asp

INDONESIA - 27-year-old Australian insists drugs planted in luggage
A 27-year-old Australian beauty student is facing a firing-squad sentence in Indonesia for smuggling marijuana she claims was planted in her luggage.

This is BULLSHIT. Indonesia is a pissant third world dump. Drugs and everything else has a higher value in Australia. Nobody is smuggling drugs from Australia into Indonesia unless they want to wildly up the risks to shrink their profits. Boycott Indonesia.

[amdg]

That doesn't sit right with me. And neither does this case http://www.gwinnettdailyonline.com/GDP/archive/article60F05ECE6EBC40E68561FE75741AB6F7.asp

INDONESIA - 27-year-old Australian insists drugs planted in luggage
A 27-year-old Australian beauty student is facing a firing-squad sentence in Indonesia for smuggling marijuana she claims was planted in her luggage.

"Wiswantanu said the former beauty student's actions threatened to make Bali look like a drug haven and could have destroyed the lives of thousands of young Balinese."

Yes, marijuana is the 'destroyer of lives'. Not alcohol, not cigarettes, not firing squads, not rampant tropical diseases, but marijuana.

Simple solution for you brainiac Bali officials, why don't you close your airports and stop recieving tourists? That ought to help things.

[bunchoffuckinggoofs]

They are young. I feel badly for them and their families. If they were 15 years into their careers as mobsters, then I would think that they were stupid, but in this case, from what I have read on here, they seem completely ignorant. When I was a kid, I was pretty ignorant of such laws. I knew a lot of drug dealers, but was lucky to have older brothers who kept me out of serious trouble. Today, I work at university doing what I like to do and not thinking about any big score or making a ton of money while living overseas so I move home and buy X or Y. A lot can happen after somebody gets through his or her 20s. Sure, ignorance of the law is no excuse, but their deaths will not deter the next group of ignorant kids. Ignorance is a power tool used by the organizer, isn't it?