Bali nine may be part of big ring

CANBERRA - Police believe the nine Australians arrested for heroin smuggling in Bali could have been part of a much larger, sophisticated operation with consignments also possibly destined for other countries.

The nine, some of whom face execution if convicted, were arrested last week when four alleged "mules" were found with a total of 8.3kg of heroin strapped to their bodies in slabs of 2kg to 3kg each.

The drugs are believed to have most likely come from Myanmar - identified by the Australian Crime Commission as Australia's main source of heroin - and investigators consider it unlikely that the heroin seized at Denpasar airport comprised a complete shipment.

The commission's latest Illicit Drugs Report also identifies Indonesia as one of the main conduits for heroin entering Australia.

"There is nothing to suggest that this amount of heroin was the only amount of heroin that was destined for Australia, or indeed any of the other countries, or indeed for distribution around Bali itself," Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty told ABC radio. "Obviously you don't just distribute from Burma 10kg of heroin. It's obviously come from a much bigger amount."

Keelty pointed to the need for co-operation with Asian countries that executed drug smugglers.

International co-operation played a big role in a dramatic slump in heroin seizures last year; the 50kg intercepted by police and Customs was the lowest in a decade.

The nine Australians allegedly involved in the shipment are being held in primitive cells, and have been separated after claims that some of the alleged "mules" had been forced into the smuggling by death threats against their families.

Indonesian lawyer Anggia Browne, acting for alleged "mules" Renae Lawrence, 27, and Martin Stephens, 29, told ABC radio that although her clients had agreed to fly to Bali for a smuggling operation, they did not know it involved heroin and had tried to pull out when they learned drugs were involved.

She said one of the other accused had shown Stephens a picture of his (Stephens') family, given details of their whereabouts and activities, and said they and his fiancee would be killed if he did not take the heroin.

 

Browne agreed it was safe to assume the man making the threats was Andrew Chan, 21, the man identified as the "godfather" of the operation. He has vehemently denied being the ringleader.

Yesterday, the case took a new twist when Bali drug squad head Lieutenant Colonel Bambang Sugiarto suggested that Myuran Sukumaran, 24, previously identified as Chan's bodyguard, may in fact be the leader of the operation.

"Sukumaran took the role of instructor to Chan, so we suspect he is the first big boss and Chan is his deputy," said Sugiarto.

Sukumaran has been a shadowy presence so far and has kept a low profile in the Bali police lockup as families and other members of the nine spoke to the media.

Police are considering moving him into isolation as they have already done with Chan to stop him intimidating the others.

- additional reporting: AAP