bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

An Australian student was due to go on trial for her life today, facing a possible death sentence by firing squad for alleged drug trafficking.

Schapelle Leigh Corby,  27, of the Gold Coast, Queensland, was arrested at Bali airport last October after customs officers found a plastic zip-lock  bag containing 4.2 kilograms of cannabis in her bodyboard bag.

Drug trafficking charges  carry the death penalty in Indonesia.

'The customs officer asked the suspect to empty the contents of the bodyboard bag one by one,' prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu  alleges in court documents.

'There was a big plastic bag containing dried flowers. The suspect was asked about that package and admitted it was marijuana belonging to her.'

Customs officers first became suspicious after X-raying luggage taken off the Qantas flight, which flew to Bali from Brisbane via Sydney.

They monitored the luggage carousel and saw a 'nervous'  Corby pick up the bag containing the suspicious package.

She refused to open the bag in public, so they took her to a private room, the prosecution indictment alleges.

However, Corby has denied  admitting the marijuana was hers.

Family and friends claim she has never been involved in drugs.

The Indonesian officer in charge of the investigation, anti-drugs squad director Bambang Sugiarto,  said it was the largest quantity of cannabis  intercepted  in Bali and the first such case involving an Australian.

However, he said there was a lucrative market on the resort island for high-grade marijuana.

Her lawyer said it was nonsensical to believe somebody would smuggle drugs to a market where their street value was much lower.

'There is no motive to bring marijuana from Australia to Bali, and there is no crime without a motive,' said Vasudevan Rasiah, a member of the defence team.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer  has called the case 'very curious' as most drug trafficking arrests in Indonesia were of people trying to smuggle drugs out, not in.

But Mr Rasiah has criticised the Australian government for not doing enough to help his client.

'The girl has been kept in the worst condition for the last three months ...  she is being denigrated by local media,' he said.



Australian student facing firing squad on drug trafficking charge