Oct. 12
AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA:
Help me: Australian paraded after drug arrest
A Gold Coast student who could face the death penalty for allegedly trying
to smuggle marijuana into Bali has spoken of her distress and asked for
help.
As Schapelle Leigh Corby was being led back to her cell in Bali's central
police station after two hours of questioning yesterday, she told a Herald
photographer: "I'm petrified, I'm scared - help me." Visibly shaking, she
sent a message to her mother and sick father in Tugun on the Gold Coast:
"Tell my mum and dad I love them."
The 27-year-old beauty school student, who was arrested on Friday when she
arrived in Bali from Brisbane, is being held on suspicion of possessing
drugs, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and
a fine. However, if police believe she has imported or dealt drugs,
prosecutors can call for the death penalty. Police allege they found 4.1
kilograms of marijuana packed in a plastic bag inside a bodyboard bag.
At a media conference yesterday, the head of Bali's drug squad,
Lieutenant-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, said Ms Corby spent most of her time
in her cell crying and often visited the toilet for long periods, refusing
to come out when asked.
"Police will wait until she's calm before they continue the questioning,"
he said.
Ms Corby has denied the drugs were hers. Her defence team say they are
investigating whether the drugs could have been planted on their client.
Colonel Sugiarto showed journalists the drugs and the bag in which they
were allegedly found, along with a yellow bodyboard and a pair of fins.
There had been no attempt to conceal the drugs beyond putting them in the
bodyboard bag, which was not locked before it was checked in at Brisbane
Airport.
Colonel Sugiarto said the marijuana was of a type known locally as "lemon
juice", which was stronger and more aromatic than the strain normally
found in Indonesia. He said he had an informant in Bali who claimed to
know Ms Corby but that police had not had a chance to question the
informant fully.
Indonesian police have asked for Australian help in the investigation,
particularly information about any past record.
Ms Corby was travelling to Bali with her stepbrother and 2 friends to
visit her sister, Mercedes, who is married to a Balinese man and works on
the island, when she was arrested. Her stepbrother, named as James Sioli
Kisina, was also questioned yesterday.
Colonel Sugiarto said the marijuana haul was the largestseized coming in
from Australia. He noted that most marijuana smuggling cases involved the
drug being taken out of Indonesia rather than being brought in, and that
international airports like Sydney generally screened for drugs in
outgoing luggage.
(source: Sydney Morning Herald)
