Nine days before nine young Australians were arrested in a heroin smuggling sting in Bali, Australian police knew almost everything: who they were, where they would stay, when they would try to leave, even how they would strap the drugs to their bodies.
It was a crime not yet committed but with terrible consequences if it was discovered in Indonesia: the death penalty. Yet on April 8, the Australian Federal Police wrote to their Indonesian counterparts outlining in extraordinary detail what would take place. They named the alleged ringleader, Andrew Chan. And they told the Indonesians: "If you suspect Chan and/or the couriers are carrying drugs at the time of their departure, please take whatever action you deem necessary."
The Indonesians did. On April 17, Chan and four others were arrested at Denpasar Airport. Scott Rush, Michael Czugaj, Renae Lawrence and Martin Stephens had heroin strapped to their bodies. Another four, Myuran Sukumaran, Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, Si Yi Chen and Matthew Norman, were arrested soon after at a Bali hotel. All nine are now on trial.
Rather than waiting to grab the suspects in Sydney, Australian officers did not try to stop Indonesian police from arresting the group, the letters suggest. Rush and Lawrence accuse the AFP of exposing them to the death penalty and have taken legal action against them in Darwin.
The letters, copies of which the Herald has seen, are dated April 8 and April 12, are written in Indonesian and signed by Paul Hunniford, the AFP's liaison officer in Bali. They are headed: "Heroin couriers from Bali to Australia, currently in Bali."
The April 8 letter starts by detailing a failed operation in December 2004, and then moves to the April attempt.
"They will be carrying body packs (with white powder) back to Australia with packs on both legs and also with back supports. They have already been given the back supports. The packs will be strapped to their bodies. They will be given money to exchange for local currency to purchase oversized loose shirts and sandals." None of the clothing would have metal elements, to avoid activating airport detectors.
Chan, the letter says, returned to Bali on April 3, and was staying at the Hard Rock Cafe. On April 6, Lawrence, Norman, Stephens and Chen flew to Bali. On April 8, the day the letter was sent, Nguyen, Czugaj and Rush joined them. The AFP provided passport numbers for all eight, and according to evidence heard at Czugaj's trial, provided black and white photos.
In the April 12 letter, labelled "Additional Intelligence", Mr Hunniford notes the intended departure date for five of the nine, and says Chan "will not be carrying drugs", but would have an oversight role on the plane and would "take over the drugs as soon as they arrive in Australia".
The letters do not predict the correct departure date - initially thought to be April 14 - and two of those named as couriers were not among the five caught at the airport. But the April 12 letter does contain an instruction that tallies with what took place on April 17: to arrest those members of the group at the hotel as soon as the airport bust was complete.
The letters were referred to several times during Czugaj's trial yesterday as two witnesses - Made Maja, an Indonesian policeman, and Nyoman Gatra, an intelligence officer - detailed the Indonesian surveillance operation prompted by the April 8 letter. The men said the involvement of Sukumaran only became apparent during the Indonesian phase of the operation.
Czugaj, asked by a judge to respond to the testimony, said the AFP was wrong in identifying him as a heroin courier in the April 8 letter. Through an interpreter, the 19-year-old said he was in Bali "to enjoy a holiday" offered by Nguyen. "Only at the end of the holiday" did things change; he was pressured to take part in the smuggling operation.
The trial was adjourned for 90 minutes after Czugaj complained he had not eaten breakfast and had a headache. When the hearing resumed, Czugaj said he was still too sick to continue despite having been fed and given medication. The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.
Earlier, Lawrence and Sukumaran heard the response to defence arguments that their cases should be dismissed. Prosecutors said the defence claims were ill-founded. Judges will rule on the challenges on Friday.