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Bali Snares Another Aussie Drug Courier, Death Penalty Looms

Edward Norris Myatt is 54 years old, originally from Ballarat in Victoria, Queensland Australia. He's been living in England in recent years, working as a construction worker and selling jewelry. (There's a Myatt Jewelers in Victoria, I have no idea if they are connected.)

I think the pictures tell the story.

Here's the sign that hangs in Bali's airport:

Myatt gets stopped at the airport, they suspect he has swallowed pills, so they arrest him and take him to the hospital where he spends three days, waiting to expel 72 capsules. Then they do their perp walk for the media. (Video here.) Not only does he have to wear an orange shirt, the shirt announces he's a prisoner. ("Pelaku")[More...]

Here are the 72 capsules that had been secreted inside him. 71 contained hash and 1 contained meth. The helpful authorities even brought a scale to the perp walk and weighed each one in front of the media. I hope the police cleaned the capsules off first.

Indonesia says the weight of the 72 capsules was 1103 grams of hashish, with an estimated street value of $67,000, which qualifies him for the death penalty. The cops believe he is a long time mule, having made 6 trips to Bali this year.

Where will he go? You guessed it, Bali's Kerobokan Prison.

His arrest did not go smoothly. During the car trip to the hospital, where the cops were to wait until he expelled the drugs, Mr. Myatt tried to escape. He ran away, but he wasn't familiar with the area and he ended up jumping into a swimming pool. An officer jumped in to grab him. Off to the hospital they went.

Nor was Mr. Myatt cooperative with information. He refused to provide information about whatever drug network he is working for.

Myatt will be allowed to meet with consulate officials. Then, he's likely to be moved to Hotel Kebokoran, which houses Schapelle Corby, the Bail 9 defendants, including those sentenced to death, and numerous rapists, child sex offenders, murderers and terrorists.

1 kilo of hashish and 7 grams of meth does not seem like a huge amount. Schapelle got 20 years for 4 kilos of pot and to this day maintains her innocence. All but two of the Bali 9, who smuggled heroin into Bali, avoided death sentences. But at 54, there may not be much of a difference between a 20 year sentence and a life or death sentence. I'd bet some would prefer the death sentence to having to endure 20 years inside an Indonesian prison.

As I always say, there are beautiful beaches all over the world, there is no reason to visit Bali or Indonesia given their dedication to executions by firing squad for drug traffickers.

If you're planning a trip in that neck of the woods, I hope you'll visit Mauritius or the Seychelles instead of Bali -- and leave the drugs at home.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Well... (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by ScottW714 on Fri Mar 02, 2012 at 12:00:21 PM EST
    If you are gonna get in the game, have the good common sense to know what you are getting into.  I used to see it all the time, people not knowing that over say an oz in Texas will raise the stakes considerably.  Fine if got twenty of them, but carrying an oz and a gram is just dumb.  Ditto for messing with Bali, or another country with barbaric jails, backwards judicial systems, and extremely severe penalties.

    He may be down on his luck, but there are so many other Pacific Islands he could have picked.

    I can't imagine the horror of this, having stuff in your system and the world's worse authorities waiting for you to expel it.  Not a state of mind I would wish on anyone.

    I am surprised they didn't help him along with a laxative, 3 days, damn...  

    I'm surprised... (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by kdog on Fri Mar 02, 2012 at 03:53:01 PM EST
    the barbarians didn't gut him to get their precious evidence.

    Parent
    How about the Maldives? (none / 0) (#1)
    by observed on Fri Mar 02, 2012 at 06:36:25 AM EST
    They have some unique aquatic scenery and I have thought of a visit there.


    Down (none / 0) (#2)
    by koshembos on Fri Mar 02, 2012 at 07:45:44 AM EST
    This guy seems down on his luck resorting to drug trafficking if he really did it as a last resort. It appears that the drug distributors will always find a victim to do their job.

    It is really sad.

    Indonesia... (none / 0) (#3)
    by kdog on Fri Mar 02, 2012 at 08:30:06 AM EST
    is the victimizer here, not whoever this poor guy was working for.  I'm sure he knew the risk of taking this job on...I can't call him a criminal, nor can I call him a victim of a drug distributor.

    Perhaps a victim of a sh*tty world economy and tyrannical drug laws, that I'll buy.  Don't get me wrong, I have no illusions about international drug traffickers...often not very nice people, often violent gangsters.  But they gave him a job...a way to earn money to live.  Indonesia is the outfit who chained and caged him up, and who may eventually murder him.

    So who is the criminal?  To objective eyes, I think it is obvious.

    Parent

    eh? (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by diogenes on Fri Mar 02, 2012 at 11:11:09 AM EST
    A criminal is someone who breaks the law.  This man made one and probably multiple drug runs to Bali knowing full well that he could well be sentenced to prison if caught.  Whatever one's feelings about the death penalty or whether hash should be legal in our country, surely people here have some respect for the right of Indonesia to control its borders and the flow of drugs into THAT country.  
    If you don't like the 20 year prison term for being a drug runner, then don't run drugs into Indonesia.  

    Parent
    Accountability for human beings... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by kdog on Fri Mar 02, 2012 at 11:15:18 AM EST
    no accountability for inhumane law...an all too common view I'm afraid.

    Parent
    I deleted the comment (none / 0) (#9)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Mar 03, 2012 at 09:24:20 PM EST
    you are replying to for objectionable religious content.

    Diogenes has been crossing the line too many times. He's close to being banned.

    Parent

    And to (none / 0) (#8)
    by lentinel on Fri Mar 02, 2012 at 04:05:26 PM EST
    think that 80 years ago, he could have been shot for brewing beer in the good old US of A.