Australian drug suspect to face two death penalty charges in Bali
Indonesian prosecutors said Wednesday they plan to charge the Cairns man with importing and distributing narcotics - both of which carry a potential death sentence
An Australian man facing a possible death sentence for allegedly co-ordinating the pick-up of more than 1.7kg of cocaine will soon face court after Bali police concluded their investigation and handed the case to the state prosecutor on Wednesday.
Cairns man Lamar Aaron Ahchee, 43, was arrested in a controlled delivery operation in May after he received two international post packages containing a total of 206 packets of cocaine.
He had been held in Bali Police detention since his arrest but was transferred back to Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison in North Kuta on Wednesday after police handed the case to state prosecutors.
Mr Ahchee was brought to the prosecutor’s office on Wednesday morning where he was questioned for an hour before re-emerging wearing an orange detention vest.
Head of General Crimes, Denpasar District Prosecutor’s Office, I Gede Wiraguna Wiradarma said his office had extended Ahchee’s detention for another 20 days while two state prosecutors prepared an indictment.
“If the prosecutors are ready, the case will be submitted to court; but if the indictment is not yet complete, the detention may be extended further,” he told reporters.
Mr Wiradarma said prosecutors were planning to charge him under Indonesia’s draconian Narcotics Law with importing Class I narcotics (113-2) and distributing narcotics (Article 114-2). Both charges carry a maximum death penalty.
Ahchee also faces a third possible charge of possession for personal use.
Police had previously alleged that the former restaurant manager arranged for local ride-hailing drivers to pick up the packages sent from the UK in order to obscure tracking, though it had already been flagged by customs authorities upon its arrival in Denpasar on May 20.
The packages were estimated to be valued at approximately Rp12bn ($1.14m) worth of cocaine, wrapped in individual chocolate wrappers.
Ahchee told police during his interrogation that he did not know the owner of the packages and that he had simply been instructed by someone referred to as “Boss” to receive and distribute the drugs in exchange for Rp50m ($4744).
While the Indonesian state has not executed a death row convict since 2016, and plans to phase out death sentences, capital punishment is currently still legal in the country.
Late last year Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto also released the five remaining Bali Nine Australian drug convicts in a goodwill measure that was also part of a larger move to reduce overcrowding in the country’s prisons.
But a serious narcotics conviction for Ahchee would create a new diplomatic headache for the two countries whose relationship was rocked in 2015 by the execution of alleged Bali Nine ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
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