CANBERRA (AP): Indonesian police on the vacation island of Bali will introduce random drug testing of tourists, an Australian newspaper reported on Sunday.
Police will force patrons of nightclubs to take urine tests in an effort to stop the illicit drug trade, Bali drug squad police chief Bambang Sugiarto told The Sun Herald.
At least 11 Australians sit in Indonesian jail cells awaiting drug charges or trial.
Canberra began sending e-mails last week to thousands of Australians living and vacationing in Indonesia, warning that a police crackdown on drugs is under way.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Sunday he supported Indonesia's tougher stance against illegal drugs.
"I think the Indonesians are right to crack down on drug use in Indonesia and drug trafficking," Downer told reporters in his home town of Adelaide.
"I agree with the Indonesians in this respect, in that I think drugs are wrong," he added.
Downer said Australians caught with illegal drugs would not be given any special treatment under the new testing regime.
He did not elaborate on the methods to be used by Indonesian authorities to conduct the drug tests.
The move comes two weeks after 24-year-old model Michelle Leslie was arrested at a dance party in Bali for allegedly carrying two ecstasy tablets in her Gucci bag.
The same day, Graham Clifford Payne, an Australian teaching English on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, was arrested while allegedly in possession of heroin and crystal meth.
Another nine Australians are in a Bali jail awaiting trial on heroin smuggling charges that could see them sentenced to death. (*)
Taken from The Jakarta Post
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