An Australian man was arrested earlier this month at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport, allegedly carrying 19.97 grams of meth and ecstasy in his luggage.
Accountant Isaac Emmanuel Roberts had been arrested at the airport on Dec. 4 but details of his arrest weren’t made public until Tuesday at a press conference where the 35-year-old was presented to reporters wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and a balaclava over his head.
Roberts was flagged by customs upon arrival in Bali from Bangkok for allegedly looking suspicious. After a routine x-ray of his luggage, customs brought him in for further searching in a private examination room.
Under Indonesia’s strict anti-drug trafficking laws, the drug importation charges that Roberts was arrested on carry the death penalty.
As he left the press conference, the Aussie claimed that he was a drug addict and that he was set up, that he was invited to “this country” by someone working with a customs officer.
While penalties for drug users are still harsh, they are much less severe than for drug trafficking and don’t carry the death penalty as the maximum.
“They knew I was going to bring something,” Fairfax Media quoted him as saying.
“I’m just a f*cking addict. They want to waste resources on addicts, they want to punish addicts this is ridiculous. What about the f*cking importers? I wasn’t going to sell it to anyone here, no one was going to use it here. This is ridiculous. This is an embarrassment.”
A press release stated the Australian drugs suspect, identified by initials IER, had hidden drugs in several packages of contraception inside a clear plastic bag, which he had put inside his luggage and backpack.
The breakdown of the drugs IER was caught with, according to the release, was five packets of clear crystal meth, weighing 19.97 grams and 14 pills, weighing 6.22 grams of ecstasy.
