Indonesia executes drug convicts, defying global anger

[Prbkk]

Killing someone for marijuana is just wrong. It is legal in some countries.

It would be like killing Indonesian Muslims for shisha tobacco in Australia.

I can understand regarding hard additive drugs but Pot ?

You're not really up with the story are you? It wasn't marijuana it was around 8.5 kgs of pure heroin. Chan and Sukumaran were the ringleaders of the Bali Nine. The other seven mules were sentenced to life in prison.

Marijuana will get you around 25yrs in prison in Indonesia.

I guess that doesnt apply if you're considered a 'ring leader', whether they find the drugs or not. Note that his mates are now free men and he's in a cheap coffin - this one reeks of corruption. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/bali-nine-who-are-the-nine-people-being-executed-by-indonesia Zainal Abidin

Abidin, 50, an Indonesian, was moved to Nusa Kambangan in preparation for execution despite still having an appeal due to be heard by the courts. He was convicted in 2001 of being the ringleader of a plan to sell marijuana, which he denies.

Two men convicted with Abidin, who he claims were the real masterminds of the ring, have served prison sentences and are now free.

...and the same double standard applies in the case of the French guy who is next on the list. His case is most alarming as covered in the report on abc australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-27/mcdonald-death-for-outsiders-but-leniency-for-locals/6423682

[JockPieandBeans]

In a week this will be forgotten. No harm to Indonesia.

Perhaps not:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/uk-grandmother-lindsay-sandiford-in-final-appeal-for-help-from-indonesias-death-row-10016256.html

From your link

A British woman due to be executed by firing squad for drug smuggling in Indonesia has written to the Foreign Secretary asking for financial assistance to pursue a final legal appeal.

Lindsay Sandiford, 57, who was convicted of smuggling £1.6 million worth of cocaine from Thailand to Bali in May 2012, fears her sentence could be carried out in a matter of weeks.

Perhaps the Government will give her an advance on the estimated £1.6 Million of cocaine she was trying to smuggle.

Last year Ms Sandiford appealed to the Supreme Court to force the Government to fund her legal fees, but this failed.

I wonder how many trips to Bali she made ?

[Commander Tamson]

The whole World should condemn this barbaric act and unanimously walk away from the sh1thole that Indonesia has become.

The hypocrisy in these executions is unbelievable when you see that terrorists already convicted of playing major roles in the killing of hundreds of innocents have already walked free under the same regime.

[Prbkk]

Even the Indonesians realise they won't get away with executing a British granny.

[ukrules]

Australia has withdrawn thier ambassador and suspended political ties with indonesia.

These people knew the laws and consequences, they didn't give a single thought about the lives of others they were destroying. They broke the law and paid for it. The execution of drug dealers is no loss to society, the trash has been taken out.

The best retaliatory action the Australians could do would be to issue the most stern 'do not travel' warning to Indonesia - the one that voids all travel insurance policies and implement economic sanctions.

All but one of those executed were foreigners and probably not of the same religion which suggests some politician sabre rattling to gain a few votes.

This country needs to be punished for its barbaric and medieval ways.

Well Bali would be on its knees in no time without Australian tourists.

There is strong support within Indonesia for the death penalty and anti-drugs actions, so this is also political.

Not only Indonesia has the death penalty........do you also condone punishing say the USA?

Yes, yes I do. It's political issue over there too.

[JockPieandBeans]

You forgot to mention that they had also found God.

Yes. It is remarkable the amount of people that apparently find '' God '' when they are about to get whacked.

Where was their '' God '' when they were peddling their filthy heroin ?

In roughly the same place as the Indonesian generals and politicians who make money from the drug trade in Indonesia then come out in the media to lament the 'drug menace' threatening their youth. I'm not defending the traffickers - I accept that Indonesia has the right to enforce their own clearly stated position on trafficking - it's the hypocrisy that reeks here, and I would say a lot of that also applies in Thailand. The elite couldnt give a fig about the health and welfare of the common people as long as they are making money, and I dont know any other industry where the profits at the top of the pyramid are so completely out of proportion to the risks for those at the bottom. None of that forced Chan and Sukumaran, both in fulltime employment back in Oz, to decide this was their ticket to easy money but the Veloso case highlights how easy it would be for the syndicates to find vulnerable 'cleanskins' to carry their product. The skeptics will even suggest that many of the couriers are given up to Police by the syndicates in return for allowing even larger shipments through their borders.

Relevant part highlighted by me.

You want to have a bash at telling me what Country the highlighted part, DOES NOT apply to ?

Mr WW. With the greatest of respect. You really need to broaden your outlook on life.

[Doc46]

Death penalty is an abomination wherever it exists. But as punishment for drug offenses it's very stupid. It has never stopped illegal drug distribution. Why would it? Increasing the risks of the drug business just raises the price of the drugs to the point that someone else is willing to take the risks. But the people who love punishment continue to love it no matter how little it accomplishes.

Well it would help a lot if they shot all the drug dealers at the back of the cop shop every day after their arrest instead of just a couple every so many years,people would think about that before they start or keep on dealing,,, there would be thousands of dealer less on the planet every day,,,

[JockPieandBeans]

Even the Indonesians realise they won't get away with executing a British granny.

Why wont they ? The British Government have already washed their hands of her.

Try reading here.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/uk-grandmother-lindsay-sandiford-in-final-appeal-for-help-from-indonesias-death-row-10016256.html

[ukrules]

I find it a little disturbing that nearly all of those who were murdered today are foreigners. Only one was from Indonesia.

This sounds political or worse still religiously motivated to me.

Indonesia has executed 33 people since 2001, including the ones executed last night. Of those 33, 20 were Indonesians. (In the same period, Thailand has apparently executed 14 people.)

The USA executed 35 people just last year, including 3 foreigners and 2 females.

"Top executioners

China again carried out more executions than the rest of the world put together. Amnesty International believes thousands are executed and sentenced to death there every year, but with numbers kept a state secret the true figure is impossible to determine.

The other countries making up the world’s top five executioners in 2014 were Iran (289 officially announced and at least 454 more that were not acknowledged by the authorities), Saudi Arabia (at least 90), Iraq (at least 61) and the USA (35)."

"REPORTED EXECUTIONS IN 2014

Afghanistan (6), Belarus (3+), China (+), Egypt (15+), Equatorial Guinea (9), Iran (289+), Iraq (61+), Japan (3), Jordan (11), Malaysia (2+), North Korea (+), Pakistan (7), Palestine (State of) (2+, Hamas authorities, Gaza), Saudi Arabia (90+), Singapore (2), Somalia (14+), Sudan (23+), Taiwan (5), UAE (1), USA (35), Viet Nam (3+) and Yemen (22+)."

I somehow get the impression that the international "outrage" has more to do with the number that were executed at one time, rather than the fact they are doing executions at all. I suspect that if these executions had of been spaced out over the course of the year we'd have heard as little about them as we have about all of the ones carried out in those other countries, especially the ones where they still like to do it publicly by beheading or stoning.

This is very interesting kerryd, only 30% of those executed in Indonesia in the last 14 years were foreigners

That's a long time and I'm sure the leader of the country has changed perhaps multiple times over that period although I have no specific knowledge of the country itself.

All I know is what I read in the news and now I know they have a massively disproportional historic execution rate of foreigners and I wonder how that's changed since this latest round of slaughter.

I'd love to see some figures for the last year. I wonder what the ratio of foreigners to Indonesians executed is for the last year going back to the beginning of May 2014 is.

[DennisF]

I find it a little disturbing that nearly all of those who were murdered today are foreigners. Only one was from Indonesia.

This sounds political or worse still religiously motivated to me.

Rubbish. This is about people who destroy the lives of others.

Usually, I am 100% behind your posts but on this you are wrong. ( My opinion)

They have laws and. mules, or the big guy, are vermin and not to be classed as human.

Death was quick, which is more than can be said for their victims.

I fell on hard times many years ago but, as I lost my only nephew on his 21st birthday to these scum ( or maybe Im just human),

I did not resort to drug pushing and I had many opportunities to do so.

I think the Indonesian law rocks.

[ukrules]

All the one cry now and rumble against Indonesia, why do not you cries out against Saudi Arabia, Yemen and and and many other country's.Those country's have death penalty for really stupid reasons and they even kill with stones.

Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region are also a much bigger well recognised problem than Indonesia, many people around the world are 'crying out' about the Saudi's - they also like to execute people, especially foreigners.

[simple1]

I find it a little disturbing that nearly all of those who were murdered today are foreigners. Only one was from Indonesia.

This sounds political or worse still religiously motivated to me.

Indonesia has executed 33 people since 2001, including the ones executed last night. Of those 33, 20 were Indonesians. (In the same period, Thailand has apparently executed 14 people.)

The USA executed 35 people just last year, including 3 foreigners and 2 females.

"Top executioners

China again carried out more executions than the rest of the world put together. Amnesty International believes thousands are executed and sentenced to death there every year, but with numbers kept a state secret the true figure is impossible to determine.

The other countries making up the world’s top five executioners in 2014 were Iran (289 officially announced and at least 454 more that were not acknowledged by the authorities), Saudi Arabia (at least 90), Iraq (at least 61) and the USA (35)."

"REPORTED EXECUTIONS IN 2014

Afghanistan (6), Belarus (3+), China (+), Egypt (15+), Equatorial Guinea (9), Iran (289+), Iraq (61+), Japan (3), Jordan (11), Malaysia (2+), North Korea (+), Pakistan (7), Palestine (State of) (2+, Hamas authorities, Gaza), Saudi Arabia (90+), Singapore (2), Somalia (14+), Sudan (23+), Taiwan (5), UAE (1), USA (35), Viet Nam (3+) and Yemen (22+)."

I somehow get the impression that the international "outrage" has more to do with the number that were executed at one time, rather than the fact they are doing executions at all. I suspect that if these executions had of been spaced out over the course of the year we'd have heard as little about them as we have about all of the ones carried out in those other countries, especially the ones where they still like to do it publicly by beheading or stoning.

This is very interesting kerryd, only 30% of those executed in Indonesia in the last 14 years were foreigners

That's a long time and I'm sure the leader of the country has changed perhaps multiple times over that period although I have no specific knowledge of the country itself.

All I know is what I read in the news and now I know they have a massively disproportional historic execution rate of foreigners and I wonder how that's changed since this latest round of slaughter.

I'd love to see some figures for the last year. I wonder what the ratio of foreigners to Indonesians executed is for the last year going back to the beginning of May 2014 is.

Info at link below. Note Indo had a moratorium on Court sanctioned executions from 2009 - 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Indonesia#Execution_Statistics

[jdinasia]

I find it a little disturbing that nearly all of those who were murdered today are foreigners. Only one was from Indonesia.

This sounds political or worse still religiously motivated to me.

Your post appears to be political (religiously motivated) and somewhat paranoid.

[ukrules]

Australia has withdrawn thier ambassador and suspended political ties with indonesia.

What about the $600,000,000 ($600mill) Australia will GIVE to Indonesia this year alone. Put ya money where your mouth is Tony.

As I stated on another forum:-

Australia really needs to re evaluate their aide package to Indonesia, it's obviously not working!

Australia’s aid program to Indonesia is designed to support prosperity, stability and security in one of our closest neighbours. The program includes a range of investments designed to promote sustainable economic growth, good governance and stability.

http://dfat.gov.au/geo/indonesia/development-assistance/pages/development-assistance-in-indonesia.aspx

This aid package should be cancelled with immediate effect. They've obviously changed direction and are moving backwards.

[CaptHaddock]

Death penalty is an abomination wherever it exists. But as punishment for drug offenses it's very stupid. It has never stopped illegal drug distribution. Why would it? Increasing the risks of the drug business just raises the price of the drugs to the point that someone else is willing to take the risks. But the people who love punishment continue to love it no matter how little it accomplishes.

Well it would help a lot if they shot all the drug dealers at the back of the cop shop every day after their arrest instead of just a couple every so many years,people would think about that before they start or keep on dealing,,, there would be thousands of dealer less on the planet every day,,,

Do you spend a lot of time imagining in detail the ferocious punishments that should be meted out to drug dealers?

[ukrules]

I find it a little disturbing that nearly all of those who were murdered today are foreigners. Only one was from Indonesia.

This sounds political or worse still religiously motivated to me.

Indonesia has executed 33 people since 2001, including the ones executed last night. Of those 33, 20 were Indonesians. (In the same period, Thailand has apparently executed 14 people.)

The USA executed 35 people just last year, including 3 foreigners and 2 females.

"Top executioners

China again carried out more executions than the rest of the world put together. Amnesty International believes thousands are executed and sentenced to death there every year, but with numbers kept a state secret the true figure is impossible to determine.

The other countries making up the world’s top five executioners in 2014 were Iran (289 officially announced and at least 454 more that were not acknowledged by the authorities), Saudi Arabia (at least 90), Iraq (at least 61) and the USA (35)."

"REPORTED EXECUTIONS IN 2014

Afghanistan (6), Belarus (3+), China (+), Egypt (15+), Equatorial Guinea (9), Iran (289+), Iraq (61+), Japan (3), Jordan (11), Malaysia (2+), North Korea (+), Pakistan (7), Palestine (State of) (2+, Hamas authorities, Gaza), Saudi Arabia (90+), Singapore (2), Somalia (14+), Sudan (23+), Taiwan (5), UAE (1), USA (35), Viet Nam (3+) and Yemen (22+)."

I somehow get the impression that the international "outrage" has more to do with the number that were executed at one time, rather than the fact they are doing executions at all. I suspect that if these executions had of been spaced out over the course of the year we'd have heard as little about them as we have about all of the ones carried out in those other countries, especially the ones where they still like to do it publicly by beheading or stoning.

This is very interesting kerryd, only 30% of those executed in Indonesia in the last 14 years were foreigners

That's a long time and I'm sure the leader of the country has changed perhaps multiple times over that period although I have no specific knowledge of the country itself.

All I know is what I read in the news and now I know they have a massively disproportional historic execution rate of foreigners and I wonder how that's changed since this latest round of slaughter.

I'd love to see some figures for the last year. I wonder what the ratio of foreigners to Indonesians executed is for the last year going back to the beginning of May 2014 is.

Info at link below. Note Indo had a moratorium on Court sanctioned executions from 2009 - 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Indonesia#Execution_Statistics

So in the last year or two they've executed only 1 Indonesian national and 8 foreigners.

To me this makes a statement. I'm not quite sure what it is but I find it hard to believe foreigners are the only criminals who commit crimes which lead to their slaughter under their law system.

Something is wrong when a country executes mostly foreigners.

[rijb]

Pick any one of your favorite musicians, and chances are 50/50 he/she was involved with illegal drugs. Now take half your favorite musicians and have them executed when just out of their teens. Bye bye to Ray Charles, U2, Kinks, Beatles, Muddy Waters, Janis Joplin, Doors, Rolling Stones, Led Zep, Thelonious Monk, Yardbirds, Police, Elton, Fleetwood Mac, Miles Davis, Tina Turner, Johnny Cash, The Who, Deep Purple, Eagles, ..... nearly all of them, plus tens of thousands of other great musicians would have been killed by Indonesian authorities before they (the musicians) put out their respective 2nd albums.

Not one to really disagree with much of what you post.

Now, lets just imagine for a minute that all of those people that you name, plus the 10's of 1000's of great musicians that you do not name. Have, at one time or another used drugs.

How many of them were stupid enough to go to Indonesia for their fix ?

If we, as Westerners, kept our noses out of other Sovereign Countries affairs, and dealt with our own Western Countries affairs. And other Countries kept their noses out of Western Countries affairs. Perhaps the World would be a much better place.

Just a thought.

Is John Lennon the king of your little dream world?

Should we stay out of the affairs of countries that grow / manufacture and then export those drugs?

[bannork]

Isn't it just the President trying to look like a tough guy?-' look at me, killing all these foreign peddlars of death, I'm saving you my fellow Indonesians from this terrible drugs menace'.

Of course the fact no Indonesians were executed except for the hapless soul in possession of grass, not heroin is irrelevant

[JockPieandBeans]

Pick any one of your favorite musicians, and chances are 50/50 he/she was involved with illegal drugs. Now take half your favorite musicians and have them executed when just out of their teens. Bye bye to Ray Charles, U2, Kinks, Beatles, Muddy Waters, Janis Joplin, Doors, Rolling Stones, Led Zep, Thelonious Monk, Yardbirds, Police, Elton, Fleetwood Mac, Miles Davis, Tina Turner, Johnny Cash, The Who, Deep Purple, Eagles, ..... nearly all of them, plus tens of thousands of other great musicians would have been killed by Indonesian authorities before they (the musicians) put out their respective 2nd albums.

Not one to really disagree with much of what you post.

Now, lets just imagine for a minute that all of those people that you name, plus the 10's of 1000's of great musicians that you do not name. Have, at one time or another used drugs.

How many of them were stupid enough to go to Indonesia for their fix ?

If we, as Westerners, kept our noses out of other Sovereign Countries affairs, and dealt with our own Western Countries affairs. And other Countries kept their noses out of Western Countries affairs. Perhaps the World would be a much better place.

Just a thought.

Is John Lennon the king of your little dream world?

Should we stay out of the affairs of countries that grow / manufacture and then export those drugs?

Did John Lennon get executed last night ? Oh No, that would have been December 1980 in New York. So your point is ?

Read my post @ 76.

What Countries grow should be none of our concern. What should be our concern is making sure that our borders are not porous and that it cannot be brought into our Countries.

Or are you just one of these people that believe you have the divine right to tell Sovereign Countries what they can and cannot do ?

[Beetlejuice]

Even the Indonesians realise they won't get away with executing a British granny.

I certainly would not lose any sleep over the execution of that council house trash English woman. In the UK she and her brood would be described as neighbors from hell.

If she does get released and returns to the UK, I have no doubts that she will continue her criminal activities. It is rare that these types of people ever become reformed characters Indonesia is right, take them out of society, better for them, better for every one else.

[bobmac10]

Those of you who are joyous over the death of the drug smugglers are basically saying that there's never a possibility of a person being reformed? Clearly this is a wrong view. Millions of people have made mistakes and learned the error of their ways and have gone on to become useful members of society. I watched a program about the two from Australia including in depth interviews with them. If I am any judge of human nature and can read a person, then I would have to say they had learned that what they did was very wrong and were remorseful.

They also wanted to help young people by talking to them about the dangers of drugs, and who better than a reformed drug seller? How many of you have never made a mistake? It doesn't just have to be about drug smuggling, we all make mistakes and it's lucky that most of the time we get away with, especially when we are young and foolhardy. We eventually grow up and realise that we were lucky to not to have been caught and never do it again. These guys were caught and given 10 years in a Bali jail to think about their crime, be rehabilitated then be put to death.

[JockPieandBeans]

They also wanted to help young people by talking to them about the dangers of drugs, and who better than a reformed drug seller?

Who better than a reformed drug seller to talk about the dangers of drugs ??

If you want a lecture on the danger of drugs. Talk to a reformed drug addict, not a seller.

[rijb]

Pick any one of your favorite musicians, and chances are 50/50 he/she was involved with illegal drugs. Now take half your favorite musicians and have them executed when just out of their teens. Bye bye to Ray Charles, U2, Kinks, Beatles, Muddy Waters, Janis Joplin, Doors, Rolling Stones, Led Zep, Thelonious Monk, Yardbirds, Police, Elton, Fleetwood Mac, Miles Davis, Tina Turner, Johnny Cash, The Who, Deep Purple, Eagles, ..... nearly all of them, plus tens of thousands of other great musicians would have been killed by Indonesian authorities before they (the musicians) put out their respective 2nd albums.

Not one to really disagree with much of what you post.

Now, lets just imagine for a minute that all of those people that you name, plus the 10's of 1000's of great musicians that you do not name. Have, at one time or another used drugs.

How many of them were stupid enough to go to Indonesia for their fix ?

If we, as Westerners, kept our noses out of other Sovereign Countries affairs, and dealt with our own Western Countries affairs. And other Countries kept their noses out of Western Countries affairs. Perhaps the World would be a much better place.

Just a thought.

Is John Lennon the king of your little dream world?

Should we stay out of the affairs of countries that grow / manufacture and then export those drugs?

Did John Lennon get executed last night ? Oh No, that would have been December 1980 in New York. So your point is ?

Read my post @ 76.

What Countries grow should be none of our concern. What should be our concern is making sure that our borders are not porous and that it cannot be brought into our Countries.

Or are you just one of these people that believe you have the divine right to tell Sovereign Countries what they can and cannot do ?

I read your post. It's still silly.

I'll bet the drug cartels wish there were more people like you.

[JockPieandBeans]

I read your post. It's still silly.

I'll bet the drug cartels wish there were more people like you.

Its silly !! I'm all ears awaiting your solution.

The drug cartels will still produce drugs. Do you want to invade half the world ? Sorry, that one has been tried, and failed miserably.

They wont wish there was more like me. Never made a penny from me and I have burned more than my fair share of crops.

[issanaus]

Australia has withdrawn thier ambassador and suspended political ties with indonesia.

These people knew the laws and consequences, they didn't give a single thought about the lives of others they were destroying. They broke the law and paid for it. The execution of drug dealers is no loss to society, the trash has been taken out.

As an Expat Australian who has seen dead kids, who've over dosed on Heroin and interviewed the families of these kids, I have NO SYMPATHY for these two Scum Bags.

It wasn't their first time, they were not just simple "mules" they were the Mule Drivers and they'd done it all before, with their filthy product earning them millions from their victims. The Bleeding Hearts will try to tell us how these two "Reformed"....only after they were caught, only in the hope of saving their own worthless lives.

Just like Barlow and Chambers from Perth in the 1980's who were hanged in Malaysia for the same thing, these two were MONSTERS and their LEGAL Execution means they will NOT be importing more "DEATH" into Australia to be peddled to kids.

Indonesia and any other country that takes this firm stand against Drug Traffickers has my total support.

I don't believe in the death penalty - some people make it hard for me to maintain that conviction

Bali Nine kingpin Andrew Chan masterminded another overseas heroin deal that went wrong

Rachel Diaz, 17, of Sydney, was arrested with two others in a Hong Kong hotel

Diaz, a trainee hairdresser, and Chris Vo, then 15, were due to swallow 114 heroin-filled condoms when police raided their hotel room

Chan sent threats from Kerobokan jail to Diaz's Hong Kong prison cell, telling her to keep her 'mouth shut'

Chan set up at least 17 young Australians who were arrest on heroin charges

He was part of a 'predatory crime syndicate' which recruited young people as drug mules

Chan and cohort Myuran Sumurakan face death by firing squad after the new Indonesian President rejected any chance of a pardon

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2869230/Bali-Nine-ringleader-Andrew-Chan-mastermind-international-drug-deal-went-horribly-wrong-threatened-17-year-old-mule-Hong-Kong-jail-mouth-shut.html#ixzz3YgZ5LbEy

I feel very sorry for the families of those who were executed as they have to share the punishment. The question is wether the Indonesian government, the execute family member or both caused their suffering.

Edited April 29, 2015 by issanaus

[loxley99]

State murder of drug dealers

Barbaric and an unnecessary state murder...

Bali Bombers murdered 202 - 3 executed - Bashir was found guilty of conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bombings - two and half years jail - four serving life sentences ..and a few others got away !

Drugs are evil but some balance in punishments must be applied.

Indonesia is a sovereign state but is third world, poorly educated and where life has a low value ...how long will it take for them to exit the dark ages !!

I just hope that Australians think carefully before visiting Indonesia and consider a boycott of the country - corruption is rife and no way is justice guaranteed. Maybe past PM Paul Keating should restate his remark and apply it to the current President who in this case would not listen to world opinion and behaves like a 'Truculent schoolboy' !!

[balo]

RIP , but they knew the consequenses, do drugs in Thailand and at least you can walk away as a free man after a few years. Indonesia should be avoided if you're dealing with or are addicted to drugs.

[wowfactor10]

A disgusting Country that can be boycotted...

[ukrules]

RIP , but they knew the consequenses, do drugs in Thailand and at least you can walk away as a free man after a few years. Indonesia should be avoided if you're dealing with or are addicted to drugs.

It's now an established fact that all you need to do to permanently get rid of someone you don't like is plant some drugs on them and they will be convicted and slaughtered by a corrupt oppressive and somewhat ignorant regime which doesn't listen to world opinion.

I suggest that everyone avoids stepping foot in a country where this kind of thing is even remotely possible.

[ScottMallon]

Killing someone for marijuana is just wrong. It is legal in some countries.

It would be like killing Indonesian Muslims for shisha tobacco in Australia.

I can understand regarding hard additive drugs but Pot ?

Most of these people were in possession of heroin. Nothing to do with pot.

perhaps I am mistaken but I thought two were busted smuggling Marijuana. Can anyone confirm for sure ...

8 KGs of heroin - definitely not pot.