Australian arrested with drugs in Bali

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AFP) - An Australian man was arrested Friday with 1.7 kilograms (3.4 pounds) of methamphetamine in his luggage at Bali International Airport in Indonesia, police and customs officials said.

He told customs officials he had been given a bag by an Indian friend in Bangkok and had no idea it contained drugs, according to investigators.
"We arrested Michael Sacatides because he was carrying 1.7 kilogrammes of methamphetamine," customs official Bagus Endro Wibowo told AFP.
The 43-year-old boxing trainer from Sydney could face the death penalty if convicted of smuggling the drugs into Indonesia.
He was arrested as he passed through customs after landing on an AirAsia flight from Bangkok at 11:30 am (0430 GMT), Wibowo said.
"We suspected him as he walked through the X-ray machine. The officers checked his luggage and found four plastic bags of meth," he said.
"After being interrogated he said he got the meth from an Indian national in Bangkok."
The drugs are reportedly worth 2.8 billion rupiah (314,000 dollars) at Indonesian street prices.
Sacatides was presented to reporters wearing an orange shirt emblazoned with the word "pelaku" or criminal, but was not allowed to speak directly to the media.
Officials said he claimed to have come to Bali on holiday and had a return ticket to Bangkok on October 4.
"He said the luggage belonged to his Indian friend in Bangkok who lent it to him and he didn't know about the drugs inside," Bambang Wahyudi airport customs chief Ngurah Rai said.
Three Australians are currently on death row in Bali's Kerobokan jail for a 2005 attempt to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin into Australia from the tourist island.
Six other members of the so-called Bali Nine gang are serving long jail sentences.
Another Australian, Schapelle Corby, is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali for trafficking 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia in 2005.