Court Seeks 15 Years for Drug Smuggler

Made Arya Kencana

Denpasar. Prosecutors at the Denpasar District Court in Bali on Wednesday sought a 15-year jail term for an Australian accused of smuggling 1 kilogram of marijuana and 5 grams of methamphetamine into the country.

The defendant, 54 year-old Edward Norman Myatt, was arrested on Feb. 27 after immigration officials at Ngurah Rai International Airport noticed that he was nervous and acted suspiciously.

Officials later found nothing out of the ordinary in the baggage that he was carrying but noticed that Myatt’s stomach was unusually large and hard. The Australian national, who worked in London as a hairdresser at the time, was later taken to a nearby hospital where an X-ray scan revealed he had 72 pill-sized packets of drugs inside his stomach.

During the ongoing trial, Myatt earlier said he purchased the drugs in New Delhi from a man named Steve for $1,250.

Myatt admitted that he had prepared the packets himself but claimed that the drugs were for his personal consumption, denying charges of drug smuggling filed by the prosecution. “It is impossible that so much drugs is for personal consumption,” lead prosecutor Gusti Putu Atmaja told the court in his closing argument.

Prosecutors on Wednesday also demanded Myatt pay Rp 2 billion ($212,000) in fines or face six more months in prison.

A 15-year prison term, prosecutors argued, was fitting for Myatt’s crime, saying that the defendant had not been truthful and showed no remorse.

Prosecutors also presented the fact that Myatt tried to escape en-route from the airport to the hospital. Myatt forced open the police car door as it was passing through a Denpasar street and jumped from the vehicle.

The four escorting police officers later recaptured Myatt, who plunged into a fountain at the Dewa Ruci traffic circle.