Police in heroin arrest raids

12:35 AEST Tue Apr 19 2005 (from NineMSN News)

Australian police have raided homes in NSW and Queensland in the hunt for evidence against nine Australians accused of trying to smuggle more than 11kg of heroin out of Indonesia.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) agents exercised search warrants on the homes on Monday after the arrests of eight men and one woman in Bali during an airport and hotel drug swoop.

AFP border and international network national manager Mike Phelan said police seized documents during the raids and they were now examining the material.

Mr Phelan told the Nine Network it was difficult to say if the raids would lead to more arrests.

"But what we will certainly be doing is we will continue to work with Indonesian authorities, we'll look and see what holdings we've got, particularly out of the warrants yesterday, look and see what information they've solicited over the last fortnight and put that together and see where that leads us."

Mr Phelan said Australian agents had been gathering information about the alleged group of drug smugglers for about 10 weeks, and had handed it to Indonesian police two weeks ago.

The nine Australians, three from Queensland and six from NSW, could face a firing squad if convicted of drug smuggling under Indonesian law. As yet no charges have been be laid.

Four people detained in Denpasar airport's departure lounge waiting for a flight to Sydney were allegedly found with 2kg heroin packs taped to their bodies, a total of 10.9kg.

A fifth person also was detained after being removed from a Sydney bound flight but was not carrying drugs. Four others were taken into custody during a raid of the Melasti Hotel where 350g of heroin were allegedly found.

The Australian newspaper named the alleged mastermind of the group as Andrew Chan, 21, of Enfield in Sydney.

"Whatever happened to Schapelle Corby happened to me. They are convicting me of something I didn't do," he told reporters in Bali.

The newspaper also named the four who allegedly had heroin strapped to their bodies as Michael William Czugaj and Scott Anthony Rush, both 19 from Brisbane, Martin Eric Stephen, 29, from Towradgi near Wollongong, south of Sydney, and Renae Lawrence, 27, from Wallsend in Newcastle.

The Australian named the four arrested in the hotel raid as Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, 27, from Brisbane, Myuran Sukumaran, 24, from Auburn in Sydney, Si Yi Chen, 20, from Doonside in Sydney, and Matthew James Norman, 18, from Quakers Hill in Sydney.

Stephen Czugaj, the father of Michael Czugaj, from Oxley, in Brisbane's west, said he was unsure if he would be going to Bali to support his son.

"I've no idea what I'm doing at the moment but it seems like the only thing to do," Mr Czugaj said.

The family of Wellington Point man Thanh Nguyen said Mr Nguyen was not a drug dealer or drug taker.

Ms Lawrence's stepfather, identified only as Steve, said he had spoken briefly to Renae by phone, but was cut off.

"I am still actually struggling to even absorb what has happened," he told ABC radio.

"There's nothing that we know as yet."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was shocked by the arrests.

He said the AFP could not allow the group to return to Australia before arresting them because the alleged offences were committed in Indonesia, and the Indonesian police had to be involved.

"A sillier thing for people to do, I just cannot imagine," he told the Nine Network.

"People have to know though that trafficking in heroin and trafficking in drugs brings the death penalty in many countries, particularly in Asia."

Chief of Bali's anti-narcotics squad Colonel Bambang Sugiarto said the drugs had come from the notorious "Golden Triangle" area in northern Thailand and Burma, and was being couriered through Bali to Australia by the nine.

He said the gang had been acting "mysteriously and suspiciously" all week, staying in their hotel rooms and instructing hotel staff not to reveal their identities to anyone.

He said the drugs were still testing the drugs for strength.

Indonesia has increasingly become not only a transit route, but also a market for drug traffickers and courts across the country have passed a dozen death sentences on foreigners found guilty of serious drug offences in recent years.