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An Australian man has been arrested in Bali and could face execution by firing squad after Indonesian authorities accused him of receiving and intending to distribute 1.7kg of cocaine on the island.
Lamar Aaron Ahchee, 43, originally from Cairns in northern Queensland, was taken into custody last Thursday in the beachside area of Canggu, following a joint surveillance operation by Bali police and customs officials.
He is now being held at the Bali Police Detention Centre and has been charged under Indonesia’s narcotics laws, which carry the death penalty for trafficking class 1 drugs.
Defending Mr Ahchee, his lawyer Edward Pangkahila told the Associated Press the accused was “not the owner of the cocaine, he is just a dealer.”
In a separate statement to the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Pangkahila said Ahchee, though a user of cocaine, had no idea the packages contained drugs. His client picked them only as a “favour” to a friend who supposedly couldn’t collect them himself.
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According to police, the cocaine was concealed in chocolate packaging and shipped from England in two separate parcels addressed to locations in North Kuta and Badung Regency. The packages arrived at Denpasar airport on 21 May and were flagged during a routine customs X-ray inspection. Authorities then coordinated a controlled delivery operation.
Mr Ahchee allegedly instructed two drivers from local ride-hailing services to collect and deliver the packages to his rented apartment. He was arrested shortly after taking delivery. Officers say they recovered 206 clip bags of cocaine weighing 1.7kg in total, along with a digital scale, mobile phone and plastic materials in his room.
Police chief Inspector General Daniel Adityajaya said the drugs were valued at Rp12bn (£544,000) and that the quantity was enough to supply thousands of users. “With the secured evidence of 1,713.92g net estimated to be worth Rp12bn, we have successfully saved 2,666 lives from the threat of the dangers of drugs,” he told reporters.
Authorities presented Mr Ahchee at a news conference on Monday. Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and wearing a mask, he remained silent throughout. Inspector General Adityajaya said: “He is suspected of importing or distributing class 1 narcotics. He is threatened with the death penalty or life imprisonment.”
Local media Bhinneka Nusantara reported that Mr Ahchee initially told investigators he was acting on instructions from someone known only as “Boss”, and was promised 50 million rupiah (£2,200) to accept and distribute the packages.
His lawyer, Mr Pangkahila, said the Australian national had been emotionally distressed following the arrest and had slammed himself into the walls of the police station in despair. Mr Ahchee, he added, was a user of cocaine but claimed to have been misled by a foreign acquaintance he had known for about a year.
“He is not the owner of the cocaine, he is just a dealer,” Mr Pangkahila told the Associated Press. “The police must be able to chase and arrest the person who is acting as his boss, to reveal this case fairly.”
Mr Pangkahila told The Sydney Morning Herald that his client thought he was collecting a parcel as a favour and was unaware it contained drugs. He also said the individual who allegedly recruited Mr Ahchee had left the country.
“I can’t speak for the police, but I can speak for my client. [Ahchee] had no idea what was in the package; he never admitted it was his, he never received or was promised payment. It was just a favour.
“My client was very upset. He was so upset he was throwing himself onto the wall and onto the floor … he is stressed because he knows the charges carry the death penalty.
“All these drug dealers, they will involve innocent people because if and when police make an arrest, they are not the ones with the drugs,” he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia confirmed that it was providing consular support to an Australian citizen detained in Bali. “Owing to our privacy obligations, we are unable to provide further comment,” a spokesperson told news.com.au.
Mr Ahchee had lived in Bali since 2017. His social media accounts suggest he previously worked as marketing director at the luxury beach club Omnia and later as general manager at Brick Lane in Canggu, before stepping down last year to “embark on new adventures”.
