Bali accused to face death penalty
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Indonesian police will seek the death penalty for all nine Australians accused of attempting to smuggle more than eight kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin from the popular tourist island of Bali to Sydney.
The head of the Indonesian drug squad, Lieutenant-Colonel Sugiarto said Wednesday that Indonesian police would lay charges that carried the death penalty for all of the accused, if convicted.
It has also been revealed that the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs is investigating Bali police allegations that four of the nine accused Australians had visited the island before and had travelled using a number of passports.
The eight men and one woman are being held in cells at Denpasar police station and are not expected to be formally charged until Indonesian police have carried out further interrogations, which could take weeks.
Initially it was thought just four of the Australian' would be charged with drug offences that carried the death penalty, while five would face lesser charges which carried penalties of up to 10 years in prison.
But Wednesday Lieutenant-Colonel Sugiarto told a media conference in Bali that they would all face the death penalty because they had worked on a smuggling operation which was "organized crime."
Following a tip off from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Indonesian security on April 18 arrested the nine Australians, four of whom had heroin strapped to their bodies at Denpasar airport.
Denpasar is the main city in Bali.
The alleged ring leader of the smuggling operation, 21-year old Andrew Chan, was also arrested at Denpasar airport on a Sydney-bound flight.
He did not have any heroin on him. Four other Australians were arrested at an hotel in Bali's tourist strip at Kuta.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australia's Sky News Thursday that any Australian sentenced to death would get the support of the Australian government in an appeal for clemency.
"In recent years we have been successful but you know, there are no guarantees about this," Downer said.
Downer also defended the actions of the AFP who provided information to Indonesian police which led to the nine Australians being arrested in a country which carries the death sentence for such crimes.
"If you're trying to track down a drug trafficking ring which is an international one, you've got to get the cooperation of other countries to do that, otherwise you can't track it down. You can't trace it, and you have to give them information in order to do that," Downer told Australia's ABC Radio.
"So I doubt that there was ever an easy way around this and in any case, these offences were committed in Indonesia," Downer said.
Australian police are expected to arrive in Bali Thursday to assist Indonesian authorities with the case and to attempt to track down others believed to be involved in trafficking drugs.
