Aussie sentenced 20 years for pot

In Bali they run the same scam as they do in Tijuana. A guy will sell a tourist some weed and then a cop will bust the tourist. The weed gets impounded and the guy gets threatened to get sent to a deep dark Indonesian jail unless he pays the cop off. The tourist pays up and then later the cop splits the money with the dealer and gives him the weed back to start the cycle all over again.

I've had a few cases of a dealer litterally following me down the street trying to sell me weed with a cop looking over from across the street. It doesn't take a rocket scientists to figure out what's up.

 

Tough call. She either got caught or set up. But it shows you how fragile life can be. It can swing on a moments notice for any of us.

 

Just so you guys know, in many of those third world countries, the penalties for drug smuggling FAR exceed penalties for other crimes under the law.

In egypt, they have a similar 'heavy-handed' punishment for drug smuggling that will basically ruin your life for good if you get caught. Those countries don't mess around, and they institute these heavy punishments to make sure that people will learn the consequences of smuggling drugs into the country, and hopefully put an end to that problem.

So as I said, don't compare the two systems, different societies, different standards/concerns. The Europeans, for ex, think that we are still a bunch of savages for allowing capital punishment, yet most Americans see nothing wrong with it and support it.

As for the guy that was found guilty in Indonesia for the Bali bombing, you can't compare them based on some subjective opinion you have about the 'severity' of the crime, they are two completely unrelated issues and the circumstances were completely different as well. If I remember correctly, they couldn't find any hard evidence against the guy in the Bali bombing trial, but rather they used him as someone to pin the whole thing on and get the Western governments off their backs (at least that was the way it was spun among Indonesians according a friend of mine, who is an Indonesian). If they really found hard evidence against him, he would have been executed just so you know, because that is the penalty for murder (terrorism or otherwise) in Indonesia and the Muslim world in general. But I think they knew they had a weak case against him, so they just gave him basically a 'slap' on the hand as a warning more or less.

BTW, let me just say that this Aussie chick is likely guilty, I mean to have a freain' 9 lbs of weed in your bag and not know it is not believable to say the least. She was probably just looking to make a buck or something and she though to herself, "Oh, what the heck? These brown people in a 3rd world country are ignorant idiots, and there is no way I can't get out of getting caught, if I get caught, with a small bribe." But that's just my whole theory on this, and I think that if this is true, then 20 years is about right for her as a punishment.

The only thing that REALLY gets to me is the absolute level of arrogance, and dare I say possibly a hint or racism, from the Aussie public that is now threatening to use their 'dollars' elsewhere unless the Indonesian government cowers and gives in to their demands for her release. Who the hell do they think they are?!! Do they not know that when you decide to go and visit/live in another land you are SUBJECT TO THE LAWS OF THAT LAND?! Or are they simply pissed that a 'white' chick is being jailed by these inferior brown people (How dare they?!) ?

I think the response of the Aussie public is more shameful and sickening than anything else in this whole ordeal. Here is a newsflash to ignorant people: IF YOU GO OUTSIDE OF YOUR COUNTRY'S BORDERS, YOU ARE SUBJECT TO THE LAWS OF THE COUNTRY YOU ARE IN. OTHERWISE, IF YOU ARE UNWILLING TO SUBMIT TO THEIR LAWS, YOU EITHER BETTER BE A DIPLOMAT OR KEEP YOUR AZZ BACK HOME!

 

Wow. Do your butt cheeks hurt from talking out your ass? You are clueless about here innocence and guilt. And you are just making crap up about what she thinks. The one who sounds racist and stupid is YOU.

http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/cover_stories/article_1775.asp

Schapelle Corby: A question of innocence
May 8, 2005
Reporter : Ross Coulthart
Producer : Peter Hiscock

It's the question all Australians are asking. Since Schapelle Corby was arrested in Bali seven months ago, and her boogie board bag found by Indonesian police to contain 4.1 kilograms of mar1juana, she and her legal team have strongly protested her innocence.

Now, with the Indonesian Prosecutor calling for her to serve life in jail and one of the judges reportedly saying he still needs to be convinced by the Corby defence team, there is a very real likelihood the Gold Coast resident will spend much of the rest of her life in a Balinese jail when a decision is made on her fate sometime this month.

Schapelle Corby is running out of time to prove her innocence to an as yet unconvinced Indonesian court.

But the question remains: did she do it or didn't she?

In a special Sunday investigation, reporter Ross Coulthart looks behind the rumour and innuendo now widely circulating about the Corby case. In an extensive exclusive interview with Schapelle's sister, Mercedes, he confronts Mercedes with the allegations about her and other members of the Corby family. As Sundayexplains, these highly damaging rumours are circulating behind the scenes among the Bali-based Australian media and the Indonesian authorities.

And as Mercedes explains in detail, they are totally false: "I get so frustrated that people can make up these lies. And even the press, they can print it. Do they even check the facts?"

Sunday reveals major new evidence from a former senior officer in the Australian Federal Police that goes to the heart of claims by Schapelle Corby that she was the unwitting victim of a domestic criminal drug smuggling racket that went wrong. His evidence backs a key contention in the Corby defence: that Australian drug traffickers have used, and in all likelihood still do use, the baggage of unwitting passengers to shift drugs into and around Australia.

In explosive allegations, this former senior AFP officer accuses the Australian Federal Police of shutting down his attempts to investigate such drug trafficking at Australian domestic airports. He explains how his investigations included intelligence suggesting that corrupt NSW and AFP officers were working in league with corrupt airport staff to smuggle drugs into and around Australia.

On one occasion, his attempts to send sniffer dogs into one airport to detect mar1juana he suspected was being moved there was shut down by senior management because of a claimed shortage of resources for such an investigation. He says that to this day, the allegations about corrupt police working in league with criminal drug syndicates at Australian airports have never been properly investigated.

The Corby case has revealed serious shortcomings in the security of passenger baggage passing through Australian airports. In his first TV interview, Brisbane-based Qantas baggage handler, Scott Speed, who travelled to Bali to give evidence at the Corby trial, explains why he believes Schapelle Corby is innocent. Another insider reveals security concerns at the Brisbane Airport where Schapelle left for Bali last October. And Sunday asks Qantas security boss Geoff Askew about recent examples of baggage tampering.

And why, Sunday asks, has another key witness, who also alleges he too was a victim of drugs planted in his baggage just like Schapelle Corby, never been interviewed by any police or Government agency? As he tells Sunday, he opened his bag in Bali to find someone had planted a large quantity of mar1juana inside, and — despite contacting Australian Government officials at the time and having raised his allegations more publicly since — no one in any law enforcement agency has seen fit to question him in any way. They told him to destroy the evidence...

Sunday also questions whether it is now even possible for Schapelle Corby to have a fair trial — not least because of the extremely serious failings by Indonesian police in their investigations into the drugs found in Corby's bag.

If you want to know the real story about the Corby case, don't miss this major Sunday investigation.




Only a ignorant country would have such violent drug laws btw. That goes for any country.

 

For what it's worth, concur.

 

For clarification, 9 lbs.? It was probably 4 kilos (8.8 lbs) and in the compressed bricks commonly used for international transportation (like I saw back in the 70's) 4 kilos would be just about the same size as a boogie board (not a haybale).

I don't know anything about this case one way or the other but sending pot from a First World Country to a Third World country is not the way it usually works. Why get involved with Austrailian customs. Now I realize that Bali is a tourist resort where people might pay more for pot than they would in Australia but they grow killer weed all over Southeast Asia and the pirates there have been running contraband around those islands for 300 years. If there is an upscale tourist market in Bali, why aren't they just flooded with Thai Sticks? Hell why isn't Al Queda financing their own Indonesian movement selling Afghani hashish?

Moving 9 pounds of weed through an airport is just so inefficient, obvious and unnescessary. So I would guess she's was a dumb chick trying to finance a vacation...but I don't really know.

 

Whether she is guilty or not, this case will help discourage mar1juana use worldwide. In that respect, it is a blessing.

 

same here. its so obvious that if someone does get caught, i cant really feel sorry for them.

we had a guy come up to us at a bar in puerto vallarta and buy us drinks and than tried to sell us weed. we never even considered it, but he persisted for about 15 minutes. "this is some goooood stuff. ive got a bomb (i think he meant bong) we can smoke some." "where is your hotel, i can deliver it to you." no thanks dude.

 

to quote michael jackson " thats ignorant"

maybe it will help discourage being a dumb-ass, but somehow i doubt it.

 

Sure, they are ignorant and you are enlightened, because as we all know, our weak-azz laws in this country have done wonders to stop drug trafficking across our borders. Please come down off your high horse

I won't match your childish name-calling by doing the same, I will just let respect your opinion for even if you don't respect mine. I know disagreement on this board usually trickles down to childish language, so I will be the bigger man here.

And just so that I can clarify what I stated, I clearly indicated that my opinion of her guilt was JUST THAT: an opinion. I didn't claim it was a fact, or that I knew beyond a doubt that she was guilty. I don't even know for sure if everyone in jail in the U.S. is guilty of what he/she is accused of or not, so I won't defend anyone's justice system; they are all imperfect, to varying degrees, but nevertheless imperfect. Here is what I stated:

I think it is clear from the statement above that this was an opinion, and not a statement of fact. I have my opinion, and you have yours. The funny thing is that when my friend (who is a law enforcement officer that has dealt extensively with drug cases) read about the story, and I asked him about it, he told me that her actions are typical of any drug case he has seen: the criminal always denies knowing about the possesion of the drug, and claims someone else 'implanted it'. Again, I am not saying that this means she too is guilty of this, I am just giving you one of the reasons why I think she might be guilty.

The article you gave me was talking about alleged 'corruption' from Aussie airport officials/cops that might have planted the drugs in her bag. Again, that's a possibility too, just as big a possibility as her being actually guilty.

Anyways, all I hope for in this case, or other cases, is that justice is done. If she is not guilty, then I pray to God that she is let go, because that would be a profound injustice. If she is guilty, she deserves everything she got. I don't think you or I could claim profound knowledge of the case, we all know what we hear in the news.

BTW, since I know a bit about how the justice system tends to operate in developing countries, where corruption runs rampant, I would venture to guess that sooner or later, the Indonesian courts will radically reduce her sentence to a few months/years. The Indonesian government will say something like, "We are pleased enough with the message that we sent to potential drug smugglers out there" or some BS like that, and then will probably release her and let her go back home, or simply allow her government to punish her accordingly.

 

I agree overall with what you stated. I am just compelled to believe that she knew about it because, as you said, 4+ KILOS is NOT something that you wouldn't notice! Besides, how easy is it to place such a huge amount of pot in someone else's bag without that person noticing? How did it get there? Did she leave her bags out of her sight for long enough for someone to stuff that much pot in her bag? I don't know, it just doesn't add up. That's why I am leaning more towards the 'guilty' part.

As a likely unintended consequence, however, I have to agree with Trader J, if ANYTHING good comes out of this case, it is to remind people of the heavy price that could paid for smuggling/using drugs. Obviously, people have different views on pot/drug use in general, but I am deeply convinced that these drugs do more harm than good, and if it will take this case to bring attention to the dangers of drugs, and scare off a few people, then all the better.

 

tigermission is playing the same game he always does - overlooking the facts to defend his muslim brothers, in the meanwhile hating on the white man.

 

Posting your opinions is fine. But name-calling and insulting other members of the board is rather child-like. All it does is degrade your own character.

 

Does anybody think that this case would have attracted less attention had the accused been an ugly-looking man?

 

Although I support drugs and the use of them, I do see wrong in what she did. She knowingly walked into a country with drugs, and she got caught. She was given due process and is now serving her time, as she should be.

 

I'm not trying to stop drugs by use of the death penalty and diseased ridden jails like you endorse. I do consider that enlightened-azz.

You forgot your brilliant mind reading quote of

That is what sounded stupid and racist, and still does.

 

After having dealt with the Indonesian justice system myself I wouldn't take this ruling at face value. Due process in Indonesia isn't the same as due process in the US nor do they have the same evidentiary standards.

I would hesitate to presume her guilt or innocence.

 

Yeah I was also wondering if the defendant was still an Australian citizen, but instead a male aboriginie, would we have even heard about this case?