Dangers of Drugs

ABC Journalist Peter Lloyd

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Schapelle Corby Seeks Mercy from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for 20-Year Sentence for Smuggling Drugs into Bali.

Bali News: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(4/13/2010) The Australian beautician academy student Schapelle Corby has reportedly filed a petition with Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono seeking clemency in connection with her 20-year jail sentence for smuggling 4.2 kilograms of marijuana into Bali. Arrested in October 2004, Corby underwent a high-profile trial that ended in January 2006 with the Indonesian supreme court reaffirming the original sentence of 20 years imprisonment.

In seeking mercy from Indonesia's president, lawyers for Corby are asking that her sentence be reduced or that she be set free. The petition to the president contains affidavits from Indonesian and Australian mental health experts affirming that the 32-year-old Queensland woman is clinically insane, suffering from deep depression and psychosis. A Bali-based psychiatrist has stated that Corby's life is at risk if she is not removed to new surroundings, given close supervision and put on a regular course of medication.

Her doctors alleged that the prison environment at Bali's Kerobokan penitentiary is unsuitable for the woman who has adopted a child-like demeanour that has made her susceptible to exploitation.

The request to President Yudhoyono also underlines alleged irregularities in the police investigation and trial process including a failure to fingerprint the plastic bag containing the marijuana; the lack of a video record of her arrest at Bali's airport, the failure to provide surveillance videos from the airport in Australia; the lack of weight records for the baggage boarded in Australia and the refusal of Indonesian officials to allow DNA testing of the confiscated plants. In further mitigation, lawyers for the Australian woman cite a major cocaine bust at Sydney's airport that implicated baggage handlers who reportedly committed their crime on the same day Schapelle Corby transited that airport on her way to Bali.

Clemency appeals are exceedingly rare in Indonesia. The President is not under any legal compulsion to respond to the petition and, if he does so, such a reply could take months or even years.

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34 Iranians held for drug offences in 5 weeks
By STEVEN DANIEL

stevend@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Just five weeks into 2010, the authorities have already nabbed 34 Iranians for attempting to smuggle in drugs in their luggage.

“Last year, a total of 24 Iranians were arrested for trying to smuggle in about 12.8kg of methamphetamine,” Federal Narcotics director Comm Datuk Zulhasanan Najib Baharudin said.

They had smuggled the designer drug methamphetamine or locally-known as syabu which fetched the high price of about RM250,000 a kg, he told a press conference in Bukit Aman yesterday.

Apart from the 34 Iranians, Comm Zulhasanan said three locals, one Singaporean and one Filipino were also arrested during this period.

Police seized 41.97kg of methamphetamine was seized during 11 raids and seizures during the period worth RM10.5mil. A total of RM225,850 in cash was also seized.

The 39 people detained, aged between 15 and 58, comprised of 36 men and 3 women. A 15-year-old girl was detained for questioning after her Iranian parents were caught attempting to smuggle syabu.

Most of the arrests took place at the KL International Airport. Some were nabbed at posh hotels or residences which led to the busting of two international drug syndicates based in the country.

“The modus operandi of the smugglers include swallowing capsules of 7gm to 10gm each, ranging from 80 to 200 capsules per person, depending on their body size.

“Other popular methods include hiding the drugs inside bags or containers or soaking the clothes in drug solutions.”

Comm Zulhasanan said that methamphetamine was mostly manufactured in Iran before it was brought to Dubai as a transit point and then making its way to Malaysia and distributed locally or sent to neighbouring countries.

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Peter Lloyd (born 1961) was the South Asia correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Based in New Delhi, Lloyd reported for the Australian national broadcaster across all national and international radio and television news and current affairs programs.

Lloyd was due to return to Australia to co-host Breakfast News with Virginia Trioli on ABC2 from October 2008, however, he was arrested in Singapore on drugs charges.

On 18 July 2008, Lloyd was arrested in Singapore and the local police charged him with drug-related offences. Police had alleged that Lloyd was found in possession of a small quantity of the drug 'ice', one improvised smoking pipe, and six syringes. The Singaporean police said that his urine tested positive for amphetamines and he was being investigated for trafficking a controlled drug.[2] Lloyd was released on bail of SGD 60 000, posted by his lover Mohamed Mazlee bin Abdul Malik.

In November 2008 Singapore's Attorney-General dropped the harsher trafficking charge against Lloyd, leaving him to face four lesser charges.

On 2 December 2008, Lloyd was sentenced to 10 months in jail after pleading guilty to three of the charges. On 23 June 2009, Lloyd was released from jail early for good conduct.