They Took Their Chances

Heavens! I think I am becoming a Grumpy Old Man! From the ABC News site ....

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman says it appears they [the heroin smugglers in Bali] were about to board a plane to Australia when they were arrested.

Mr O'Gorman says he cannot understand why the Australian Federal Police (AFP) passed information to Indonesian authorities rather than waiting to make the arrest themselves.

He says then they could have faced the Australian justice system.

Anyone who travels overseas knows the risks if they carry drugs in foreign countries. It's described in posters in airports, literature when you're issued with a passport, high profile court cases in the media ... the list is endless.

To have any effect on international illegal activities, national police forces have to cooperate over longish periods of time. These people would have been under observation well before they were arrested. The Indonesian police would have known what they were up to. Why should the local police ignore law breaking on their own soil just to sooth Australian sensibilities?

Imagine the fuss if the Australian authorities knowingly let law breakers on our soil leave the country because the penalties were more lenient at their destination?

These guys were taking their chances in a country that is renowned for tough penalties for drug trafficking. The financial rewards if they'd gone undetected were huge. They gambled and lost. Tough.

I don't agree with the death penalty. Australian diplomats in Indonesia should make sure that these people receive a fair trial under the local laws, and state our opposition to capital punishment. But that's as far as it should go.