Suetaz

Aussie student faces death penalty

By Cindy Wockner in Bali | Sunday Tasmanian | Oct. 10, 2004

AN AUSTRALIAN student faces the death penalty after being arrested in Bali carrying 4.2kg of Marijuana allegedly hidden in a bodyboard bag.

Schapelle Leigh Corby, 27, from Tugun on the Gold Coast, was arrested on Friday afternoon at Bali's airport in Denpasar after an X-ray scan by customs officers showed an unusual package in her bodyboard bag.

When officers opened the bag, they found 4.2kg of Marijuana leaf in a large plastic bag with dried flowers on top in a poor attempt to disguise the package.

Drug-detector dogs were brought in and it is understood drug tests proved positive for an illegal drug.

Corby, who was travelling with several others, believed to be her siblings, was arrested on Friday afternoon after she had arrived on an Australian Airlines flight from Brisbane to Denpasar via Sydney.

Corby is now the only woman being held in the jail at the Polda police headquarters in Denpasar, Bali's capital city.

The group had planned a two-week stay in Bali and had return tickets to Australia booked for October 22.

For the first eight days, the group had reservations at a hotel resort in Kuta.

Under Indonesia's tough anti-drug laws, Corby could face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted.

A more lenient sentence for Corby would be 20 years in jail and a fine of one billion rupia ($A150,000).

A Brisbane man was arrested last month after allegedly trying to export tens of thousands of methamphetamine tablets into Australia, and is also in jail in Bali.

Corby's travelling companions, along with their locally hired lawyer, visited her in the jail yesterday and police sources said the young woman was in tears after they left.

The Sunday Telegraph understands that Corby has so far refused to speak to police about the allegations.

It is understood the bodyboard bag was not locked or secured and one police source said it appeared to have been an extremely amateurish bid to bring drugs into Bali.

[Suetaznote: The sad fate of a naive young woman that maybe just wanted to smoke some weed and ride some waves. Now she faces death or possibly 20 years in prison all thanks to the war on drugs that the US government insists on forcing on the rest of the world.]

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