CANBERRA: The remaining five Australian members of the “Bali Nine” heroin-trafficking group have returned to Australia after serving nearly two decades in Indonesian prisons, following a deal between Canberra and Jakarta, according to a report by CNN.
The Bali Nine were arrested in 2005 by Indonesian police.
In a post on X, Albanese wrote, “I am pleased to confirm that Australian citizens, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens have returned to Australia this afternoon. I thank President Prabowo Subianto for his compassion.”
In a separate joint statement with Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Sunday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, “The men will have the opportunity to continue their personal rehabilitation and reintegration in Australia,” CNN reported.
In a post on X, Wong wrote, “Australia is grateful to Indonesia and President Prabowo for the return of the five men on humanitarian grounds.”
Notably, the five persons who were serving life sentences were part of a group of nine individuals arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle over eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of heroin from Bali to Australia.
Indonesia executed the group’s ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, in 2015, sparking outrage in Australia, with then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott describing it as “a dark moment in the relationship.”
The Bali Nine were arrested by Indonesian police following a tip from Australian authorities. Four members were arrested at Denpasar International Airport with heroin strapped to their bodies, while four others were caught at a hotel in Kuta. Chan was arrested after boarding a plane to Sydney, CNN reported.
Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death, while the remaining seven initially received life sentences after an appeal. The only female member, Renae Lawrence, was released in 2018 after serving 13 years of her 20-year sentence due to good behaviour. Another member, Tan Duc Thanh
Nguyen, died of kidney cancer in custody in 2018.
Notably, Indonesia’s geographic makeup, with its 56,716 kilometres of coastline and numerous islands spread across three time zones, the nation has vast numbers of remote and difficult-to-control areas that can be easily used as entry and exit points by traffickers and smugglers.
Indonesia’s border weaknesses exacerbate the country’s vulnerability to trafficking in persons (TIP), drugs and natural resources, as well as smuggling of migrants (SOM), according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes. (ANI)