'Sorry' Kiwi faces Bali prison term over cocaine

Angus McCaskill. Photo / Supplied

A New Zealand-born Australian faces up to 12 years in prison after police in Bali caught him with cocaine stuffed in his pockets.

Angus McCaskill, 57, was arrested in a bar in the village of Tuban, in Kuta.

It was reported last night that McCaskill was born in New Zealand and was thought to have attended Lytton High School in Gisborne before moving across the Ditch.

He had been based in Melbourne.

A police source told the Indonesian news website Kompas.com that McCaskill - "of the Kangaroo land" - was found carrying five packages of cocaine.

The packets were found in his wallet and stuffed in his pockets, the website reported.

McCaskill is in police detention and likely to be charged with drug possession, which carries a maximum 12-year jail term.

As police led him into a news conference, he said he had made a "silly mistake".

"I'm very, very sorry," he said.

Asked why he had the drugs on him, he said: "Because I was very, very drunk. I watched the World Cup and drank a lot of alcohol."

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said McCaskill was an Australian who had been a long-term resident in Bali, but it was thought he was born in New Zealand and educated in Gisborne.

Bali police said they had not yet charged him.

McCaskill's Facebook page shows him heavily tanned and with several photos of him - including an album called "Angus is still in Bali!" - enjoying his time there.

McCaskill's arrest comes after the high-profile case of Australian Schapelle Corby, convicted and sentenced to jail in 2005 for drug smuggling. She is serving a 20-year term in Kerobokan Prison, Bali.