Bali Nine

In April 2005, nine Australians were convicted in Indonesia for trying to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin out of the country. The drugs, worth about A$4 million, were headed for Australia. The group’s ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were sentenced to death and executed on 29 April 2015. Six others—Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, and Martin Stephens—received life imprisonment. Renae Lawrence was given a 20-year sentence, which was later commuted, and she was released in November 2018. Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of stomach cancer, as reported by Indonesian authorities on 5 June 2018. In November 2024, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese requested the repatriation of the five remaining members. They were returned to Australia on 15 December 2024, and their life sentences were commuted immediately.

Several of the Bali Nine worked for Eurest, a multinational catering company. Norman, Lawrence, Stephens, and Chan—who was a supervisor there—were employed by the firm, which provided hospitality at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Rush and Czugaj claimed they were recruited by Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, the alleged financier of the smuggling plan, while socialising at a karaoke bar in Brisbane. Evidence showed Rush had met Nguyen six months earlier while fishing. He later travelled to Sydney with Nguyen for a 21st birthday party, where he was introduced to Sukumaran, who went by the name “Mark.” Nguyen allegedly offered them free trips to Bali. Days later, Rush and Czugaj returned to Sydney, where travel to Indonesia was arranged. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) concluded that Sukumaran, Chan, Lawrence, and Norman were part of a larger syndicate that had successfully imported a commercial quantity of heroin from Indonesia into Australia on 23 October 2004. Other syndicate members were arrested in 14 AFP raids in Sydney and Brisbane on the same day in early May 2005.

Lawrence and Stephens arrived in Indonesia on 6 April 2005. Rush and Czugaj, old school friends from Brisbane, followed two days later. The group met at a hotel where Chan and Sukumaran were already staying. Chan and Sukumaran handed out SIM cards for communication. During their stay, police noted the group spent much time in their hotel rooms, though Rush and Czugaj went shopping, eating, drinking, and playing water sports. The group gathered again on 16 April for what police called a final briefing, then met one last time at the airport before their arrest on 17 April. After receiving information from the AFP—including names, passport numbers, and links to possible drug trade—Indonesian police kept the group under constant surveillance for a week before the arrests. They were detained at Ngurah Rai Airport on 17 April, carrying more than 8.3 kilograms of heroin in plastic bags. Chan had several mobile phones but no drugs. Indonesian police believed a 22-year-old Thai woman, Cherry Likit Bannakorn, supplied Chan with the heroin. She was thought to have left Bali on 18 April 2005, a day after the arrests, and was briefly held at the Thai-Malaysian border but released due to a lack of extradition paperwork. Head of the surveillance team I Nyoman Gatra later testified that police initially did not know Sukumaran was part of the group, as the AFP’s original information did not name him. They assumed Sukumaran was Chan’s bodyguard, as he was seen accompanying Chan in Bali.

Indonesian law does not require immediate charges. By 22 April 2005, no charges had been laid. Police indicated that the five arrested at the airport would face drug trafficking charges, which carry the death penalty, while those arrested at the hotel would face lesser drug possession charges, with a maximum of ten years. It was suggested that Chan recruited the other eight as drug mules, offering them A$10,000 to A$15,000 each plus A$5,000 in spending cash. On 27 April 2005, Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, head of the Bali police drug squad, said police would seek the death penalty for all nine. He revealed that several had previously visited Bali using false passports, suggesting prior drug courier work. Indonesian police released video of heroin being removed from the four arrested at the airport. They initially called Chan the “mastermind,” but later decided Sukumaran was the real leader. Defence lawyers conceded the four arrested at the airport were couriers, but said they acted for money to help their low-income families and because they were threatened with harm. They also claimed the couriers did not know what they were transporting or that drug trafficking in Indonesia carried the death penalty.