Australian arrested in Bali did not know package was drugs, lawyer says

Singapore/Bali: An Australian man facing execution by firing squad if found guilty of running drugs in Bali was so distressed after being deceived by a friend and then being arrested that he threw himself against the walls of the police station and was crying, his lawyer said.

Lamar Ahchee, 43, was caught with two packages alleged to contain a total of 1.7 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside chocolates, an amount that would qualify him for the death penalty if found guilty under Indonesia’s strict drug laws.

Australian man Lamar Ahchee being paraded to media on Monday. Credit: Amilia Rosa

But his lawyer, Edward Pangkahila, said Ahchee, though a user of cocaine, had no idea the packages contained drugs and had only received them as a “favour” to a friend who supposedly couldn’t collect them himself.

That friend, whom Ahchee had known for about a year and who was also a foreigner, has since skipped town, Pangkahila said.

“All these drug dealers, they will involve innocent people because if and when police make an arrest, they are not the ones with the drugs,” he said.

In a striking contrast to Bali police’s claim that Ahchee was promised the equivalent of $4700 as a reward for receiving the packages, Pangkahila said his client had never received any payment and neither had he agreed to accept one.

The Cairns-born businessman is accused of organising a ride-hail driver, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, to collect the drugs from a Bali post office on May 21.

Police said Ahchee received the packages, which they said had been sent from the UK, from the driver at a restaurant the following day.

Police then followed Ahchee back to his Canggu apartment and made the arrest.

A female staff member of one of Ahchee’s neighbours witnessed the commotion in an alleyway beside the block of units.

Lamar Ahchee’s Bali lawyer, Edward Pangkahila. Credit: Amilia Rosa

“I came outside because I was curious – it was so noisy, a ruckus, so many officers,” she said, identifying Ahchee as the centre of the officers’ attention after this masthead showed her his photo.

“That man [Ahchee] was trying to run, and the officer chased him. I tried to take a video, but they stopped me. They said ‘no video’, so I just watched. The officers and that man, he was like five metres from where I was standing. They crowded the alleyway.

“He probably got injured when he tried to run. He was trying to reach the main street. There must have been dozens of officers.”

Ahchee could take heart from a similar case involving an English man, Thomas Parker, that concluded on Tuesday afternoon with a sentence of 10 months’ imprisonment minus time already served.

Parker, who also has Pangkahila as his lawyer, was arrested in Kuta on January 21 after collecting a package that contained more than a kilogram of MDMA on behalf of a person he knew to be a drug dealer, and of whom he was afraid.

Investigators in that case dropped the charge that carried the death penalty after determining the package was not directly related to him.

“[Ahchee’s case] is like Thomas’ case,” Pangkahila said. “I can’t speak for the police, but I can speak for my client. [Ahchee] had no idea what was in the package; he never admitted it was his, he never received or was promised payment. It was just a favour.

“My client was very upset. He was so upset he was throwing himself onto the wall and onto the floor … he is stressed because he knows the charges carry the death penalty.”

Bali police will now work with prosecutors to complete Ahchee’s interrogation and the investigation dossier. Once that is finished, a process that can take no longer than four months, prosecutors will prepare an indictment.

Speaking after Parker’s case, Pangkahila said even a 10-month sentence was too long and that his client should be free.

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