New Zealand man arrested in Bali for allegedly smuggling 1.7kg of crystal methampheta

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poledriver

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New Zealand man arrested in Bali for allegedly smuggling 1.7kg of crystal methamphetamine

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A New Zealand man has been arrested in Bali for allegedly attempting to smuggle crystal methamphetamine into the Indonesian island, a customs official says.

Anthony Glen de Malmanche, 52, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Officials found 1.7 kilograms of the drug hidden inside his backpack when his flight from Hong Kong landed in Bali, airport customs chief Budi Harjanto said.

"The X-ray screening detected ... crystal methamphetamine hidden inside a red plastic bag inside his backpack," he told reporters.

He did not give an estimate for the street value of the drugs.

Indonesia enforces some of the stiffest penalties for drug trafficking in the world, including life imprisonment and death.

Foreigners are frequently arrested for attempting to smuggle narcotics into hard-partying Bali, and some have been handed the death sentence.

British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, who was caught smuggling cocaine into Bali, was sentenced to death last year.

Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are on death row in Indonesia after being convicted of being part of the Bali Nine group, which attempted to smuggle heroin into Australia from the resort island.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-05/000hkg10125619jpg/5948224
 
I suspect Anthony is well and truly fucked. What on earth could compel someone to not only smuggle drugs out of China, but into Indonesia?
 
New Zealand man accused of smuggling drugs into Bali says he's the victim of a dating scam

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New Zealand may have its Schapelle Corby — a man accused of smuggling drugs into Bali who insists he is innocent and has been set up by others.

Antony De Malmanche, a 52-year-old welfare recipient from Whanganui, says he is the victim of a sophisticated dating scam involving a fictitious woman, a gang of drug smugglers and 1.7kg of methamphetamines.

But Bali police insist he was an "operational target" in an investigation, who was under surveillance even before he reached Bali.

De Malmanche now faces a potential death sentence after being caught arriving at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport last week with the drugs wrapped in plastic bags in his backpack.

There has been an outpouring of sympathy in New Zealand for the man who was injured in an accident in 2002, whose seven-year-old son drowned in 2004, and whose friends say started online dating looking for companionship. More than 131 people have donated, $NZ7474 so far, to an online legal fund.

In his first public statement on his arrest, De Malmanche told reporters at a hospital in Denpasar on Tuesday that he had been lured to mainland China, then Hong Kong, and then to Bali by a fictional woman named "Jessie" who he met online. It appears he believed she would marry him.

But he revealed that, in all his travels, he had never actually met "Jessie", telling Fairfax Media: "She's a fake".

"Originally she was to meet me in China and then they made some excuse that she couldn't make it, so they said to meet here, that they'd bought a ticket that she was already here," he told reporters.

The gang included "someone in South Africa and they had someone in China as well".

Of the existence of an international drug ring, De Malmanche said: "I have no knowledge of it".

However, asked twice if he knew about the drugs he was carrying in his bag, he was unclear, at first suggesting he did not know about them, and then adding: "Hong Kong customs cleared it; I thought I was sweet, and then got here and, no."

Bali customs officials originally said De Malmanche had been arrested on December 1 because he was acting suspiciously in the baggage claim area of Ngurah Rai airport as he waited to collect his bag. He told police he was in Bali for his wedding, and that his intended bride was due to fly in soon.

Police spokesman Hery Wiyanto said they waited for three days for De Malmanche's contact to show up in Bali, but they never did.

"He made contact with the people in Hong Kong, under police surveillance, but [his contact] didn't show up [in Bali] in the end. It was [Jessie's] secretary he was supposed to meet," Mr Hery said.

Police had originally believed De Malmanche to be a simple courier, but as a result of information received from the the drug crime division at Indonesian police headquarters in Jakarta, "we believe he's more than that".

"We received information … that Antony was a TO (operational target)," Mr Hery said.

After three days, police publicly revealed De Malmanche's arrest, parading him before a press conference with the bag of drugs.

On Tuesday he was taken from the police lockup to hospital looking aching and stiff.

Messages on the donation site, Givealittle read: "Come on NZ - show some compassion for a man duped by people cleverer than him with no conscience," and, "Poor Bugger! Could be you, or I, or anyone open and unsuspecting".

Two Australian Bali Nine members, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and British cocaine mule Lindsay Sandiford are already on death row in Kerobokan prison for drug offences.

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http://www.smh.com.au/world/new-zea...-victim-of-a-dating-scam-20141209-123mq7.html
 
Bali court to sentence Kiwi drug mule

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A New Zealand man who was lured to Bali by online love and was arrested for drug trafficking will soon learn his fate from an Indonesian court.

Prosecutors want 18 years' jail for Antony de Malmanche, 53, who says he was tricked into carrying crystal methamphetamine into Bali in December.

The judges in Denpasar court can still impose a maximum sentence of death on Tuesday.

Fourteen drug offenders have been executed in Indonesia this year.

The New Zealander's barrister, Craig Tuck, says de Malmanche is aware the death penalty is possible.

"He is friends with Lindsay Sandiford, who was sentenced to death when the prosecutor only wanted 15 years," Mr Tuck told AAP.

"He understands how the system works."

Sandiford, a British grandmother, is set to appeal her shock death sentence, handed down in the same court in 2013.

She and de Malmanche are in Kerobokan jail, where Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were imprisoned before they were sent to the firing squad in April.

De Malmanche's trial has heard he was abused as a child, has been institutionalised for mental illness and has a low IQ.

He was lonely and looking for love online when he met "Jessy Smith", and an invitation for an expenses-paid overseas trip followed.

After meeting men he believed were Jessy's staff in China, he was flown from Hong Kong to Bali where, on December 1, customs found 1.7 kilograms of crystal meth in his backpack.

His defence has argued the prosecution failed to prove his link to the drugs - with no CCTV footage or fingerprint evidence presented in court.

The prosecution argues the fact that de Malmanche's passport, plane ticket and a customs declaration form were in the same bag is enough to prove ownership.

Cont -

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/...o-sentence-kiwi-drug-mule#JeLSDLmULyDsFM13.99
 
Well he's dead.

Indonesia is t exactly known for having an open mind when it comes.es to illegal substances. Hopefully they will be easy on him, at least as easy as they can be
Shitty situation.
 
'Duped' Kiwi drug mule jailed for 15 years

New Zealander Antony de Malmanche has been sentenced to 15 years' jail for drug trafficking by a Bali court unmoved by evidence of his mental illness and manipulation by online scammers.

The 53-year-old says he didn't know 1.7kg of crystal meth was in his backpack when he flew to Bali on December 1, where he believed he would be meeting a woman he had been chatting with online.

The judges could have imposed the maximum sentence of death.

Prosecutors wanted 18 years' jail for de Malmanche, arguing his passport, plane ticket and a Customs declaration form in the same bag as the drugs were enough to prove ownership.

His defence claimed the Kiwi was a victim of trafficking, rather than a trafficker, and called experts to testify about his mental illness, low IQ and vulnerability to brainwashing by online scammers.

In sentencing, chief judge Cening Budiana said the trafficking argument was considered, but "in this case, what applies is Indonesian law".

He regarded de Malmanche as "healthy physically and mentally, able to communicate, able to travel abroad and able to answer questions during the trial".

"The defendant cannot escape his criminal responsibility and we found no excuse or justification for what he did, so the defendant must be punished," he said.

In addition to 15 years' jail, the court imposed a Rp4 billion ($390,000) fine interchangeable with an additional three months in prison.

De Malmanche was silent after learning the verdict and put his head down as he walked back to his holding cell with one of his sons, who had flown to Bali.

His lawyer, Chris Harno, said he would consider an appeal.

"In our view the judges since the very beginning have believed the (police) dossier of facts rather than considering the resulting trial," he told reporters.

De Malmanche's trial has heard he was abused as a child and has been institutionalised for mental illness.

He was lonely and looking for love online when he met "Jessy Smith", and received an invitation for an expenses-paid overseas trip followed.

After meeting men he believed were Jessy's staff in China, he was flown from Hong Kong to Bali, where airport customs found the drugs in his backpack.

Around 450 pages of chat logs between de Malmanche and Jessy were submitted to the court showing how the scam progressed.

The trial was disrupted in April when de Malmanche collapsed in court and was rushed to hospital with a heart complaint.
Click to expand...

http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/06/30/03/38/bali-court-to-sentence-kiwi-drug-mule
 
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