Schapelle got 20 years

[JayK]

You better believe it. It's quite a common occurence for Indonesian customs officers to plant small quantities of marijuana in tourists luggage, then suggest they pay an "on-the-spot fine" to make the problem go away. That's more than just hearsay - it's happened to a lot of people. I've been to markets in Indonesia (particularly Sumatra) selling live tiger cubs and other endangered animals for medicinal purposes. I have photos if you're interested. "Government" and "Indonesia" are not two words I would usually associate - more like "Organised Anarchy".

There was no doubt that she had the drugs in her possession. For anyone following the case for the last sixth months the real question is, why would she bother when she could just buy the stuff there? Or if you prefer, it was worth considerably more in Australia ($20 per ounce versus $1.50 per ounce - $2800 versus $200 for the 4.1kg), so why take it out? There was another case very recently of 9 Australians smuggling heroin out of Bali into Australia. They've received no sympathy in the media at all. The Schapelle case is quite different.

Somehow, I doubt thousands of people are smuggling dope from Australia into Bali every day, which is the point at hand.

I agree that it would appear to be complete madness to smuggle that amount of dope into any country, let alone Indonesia, in such a flagrant way. What's more there does seem to be a serious line of questioning over airport security in Australia. That accounted for very little in court. However, let's not forget that the stuff was vacuum packed and fitted very neatly into the bag. It was almost the same size as the bag. What does that say? There are a lot of unanswered questions here.

That aside, in most Western systems of criminal justice, that is a huge sentence for smuggling. For that alone, she has my sympathy.

 

[Beachie]

I agree that it would appear to be complete madness to smuggle that amount of dope into any country, let alone Indonesia, in such a flagrant way. What's more there does seem to be a serious line of questioning over airport security in Australia. That accounted for very little in court. However, let's not forget that the stuff was vacuum packed and fitted very neatly into the bag. It was almost the same size as the bag. What does that say? There are a lot of unanswered questions here.

That aside, in most Western systems of criminal justice, that is a huge sentence for smuggling. For that alone, she has my sympathy.

The bag did fit fairly neatly, but I imagine that luggage handlers get to know the common types of luggage. A boogie-board bag is common enough that there would almost certainly be one on a flight to Bali, but also stands out enough that the receiving handler could pick it out. There's no sense in putting it in a black suitcase when 90% of luggage consists of black suitcases.

 

[JayK]

The bag did fit fairly neatly, but I imagine that luggage handlers get to know the common types of luggage. A boogie-board bag is common enough that there would almost certainly be one on a flight to Bali, but also stands out enough that the receiving handler could pick it out. There's no sense in putting it in a black suitcase when 90% of luggage consists of black suitcases.

I don't think the "suspect package" containing a biological agent sent to the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra yesterday is going to help her cause, nor for that matter, the image of Australia in Indonesians' eyes. That is an act of terrorism & makes us no better than others.

 

[David]

Since wars are not fought against things, but rather people, the war on drugs is nothing less then a war the government has decleared against its citizens. Abuse of anything is a problem, and people who abuse drugs need help, not war declared on them.

Got it all wrong. War on drugs was never and isn't being "fought" on users, but rather suppliers. Suppliers usually arn't users and therefor don't need help, rather jail time.