The Bali Nine drug mule who was transferred last night out of Kerobokan Prison for allegedly getting caught with meth has a serious addiction problem, authorities say.
Michael Czugaj, 30, was convicted in the Bali Nine drug smuggling plot back in 2006 and has since been serving out a life sentence.
Czugaj and 62 other Kerobokan prisoners were moved to Madiun, East Java, and from there they will be “distributed” to other various prisons across Indonesia, according to a spokesman for the Regional Office for Legal and Human Rights Affairs in Bali.
Kerobokan Prison is heavily overcrowded and authorities said the transfer is to help alleviate the overburdened facility.
“In total there are 63 inmates transferred. Seven of them are foreigners; six Iranians and one Australian, Michael Czugaj, member of Bali Nine,” spokesman Nyoman Putra Surya said today, as quoted by the Australian.
“The Australian is seriously addicted. We always find traces (of drugs) in his hands. Often we discover crystal meth left over in his room. It’s the prison warden that always finds it.
“(Czugaj) admitted he got the drug from visitors. Since he was admitted here he has been a user. That’s why we transferred him, so that he is away from his network in Bali.”
However, Czugaj claims to have only kept the meth for personal use and says he wasn’t dealing, according to Surya.
Czugaj had apparently been studying Business Management in Kerobokan and had regular visits from his girlfriend Lena and annual visits from his mother Vicki.
