The other Australians in trouble in Bali over drugs
Despite many high-profile arrests and even executions, Australians have a long history of playing roulette with the Indonesian judicial system.
The list of Australians caught with drugs in the Indonesian holiday island Bali is long, but not illustrious.
No matter how many Australians have been caught. No matter how many have been sentenced to long terms in Bali jails. Or even that some have been executed, it would appear that are always some Australians who are prepared to roll the dice and play with the Indonesian justice system.
And this is despite, the Indonesians making no secret over many years about how brutal they are to anyone caught with drugs.
Port Lincoln man Troy Smith is the latest to find himself in the middle of a Bali nightmare after being arrested when police discovered 3.19g of methamphetamine in his Legian hotel room - 3.15g in a package addressed to him and .04 in his room. If convicted, Smith faces a a prison term of between four and 12 years.
Some of those who have gone before him became household names, their notoriety a byword for a particular kind of Australian stupidity.
Schapelle Corby
Think Schapelle Corby.
Corby was convicted in 2005 of importing 4.2kg of cannabis into Bali in her bodyboard bag. The case divided Australia between those who believed her claims that the drugs had been planted and those who thought the more obvious explanation for all that cannabis was that Corby had put it there herself.
Corby’s case dominated the media. There was even a TV mini-series. Corby would eventually be sentenced to 20 years in Kerobakan Prison and was released on parole in 2014. She was deported and returned to Australia in 2017.
At least Corby made it home. Others were not so lucky.
The Bali 9
The Bali nine were arrested in April 2005 after trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin out of Indonesia and fly it to Australia. Two of the nine - Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by firing squad in 2015, while another Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer in jail in 2018. Another five remain in Indonesian prisons.
Michelle Leslie
Michelle Leslie was another arrested in 2005. The Adelaide model and reality TV star was arrested after Indonesian police found two ecstasy tablets in her handbag. Leslie courted further controversy after arrest, claiming she had converted to Islam, followed by claims her legal team had tried to bribe Indonesian authorities.
Leslie was convicted and sentenced to three months jail and was deported in November 2005. Leslie would reinvent herself as a successful interior designer and was in a relationship with ex-Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns for several years.
Graham Payne
Another Adelaide connection was the then 20-year-old Adelaide English teacher Graham Payne who was sentenced to nine months in jail in 2005 for possession of heroin. Syringes and 2106 tablets of prescription medication were also found at Payne’s house in northern Sumatra. The former Prince Alfred College and Pembroke student reportedly told police he had used methamphetamine occasionally since high school.
Will Cabantong and David Van Iersal
Melbourne duo Will Cabantong and David Van Iersal were arrested in July 2019 at Bali’s Lost City nightclub. They were caught with just over 1g of cocaine in the club. They were facing 12 years in jail but Cabantong was sentenced to one year in Kerobakan prison, while Van Iersal was detained for nine months.
Travis McLeod
Fremantle man Travis McLeod was charged with possessing 0.86 grams of methamphetamine in 2020 as well as 10kg or kratom, apsychedelic substance made from trees native to south east Asia. McLeod served time in Bali before being arrested on his return to Australia last year. He was extradited to WA where he is facing more drug charges.
Isaac Roberts
The Brisbane accountant and one-time Liberal Democrat federal election candidate was arrested in Bali’s Ngurah Rail airportin 2017 with 14.3 grams of crystal methamphetamine and 14 ecstasy tablets in his luggage. He was sentenced to 15-months rehabilitationafter admitting he was an addict.
Unnamed 14-year-old boy
The NSW teenager was on holiday with his family in Bali in 2011 when he was caught with 3.6g of marijuana. He was facing a12-year prison term but was sentenced to two months. He served the sentence in an immigration detention centre.
Michael Sacatides
The Sydney man was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2011 for smuggling 1.7kg of methamphetamine into Bali from Thailand. He was arrested at the Bali airport after customs found the drugs in a hidden compartment in his suitcase. Sacatides remainsin prison.
Joshua James Baker
The 32-year-old Queenslander was sentenced to a year in a rehabilitation centre after being caught at the airport with 28 grams of marijuana and 37 pills of the prescription drug Diazepan. He was charged with the lesser charge of illegal use, rather than importing or possession of drugs.
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Originally published as The other Australians in trouble in Bali over drugs
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