Australian Sentenced to 12 Years for Bali Cocaine Smuggling

An Australian man was sentenced to 12 years in prison by an Indonesian court for smuggling cocaine into Bali. Lamar Aaron Ahchee was arrested after police discovered cocaine at his rented house. The sentence exceeded prosecutors' demands due to the potential harm to Bali’s tourism industry.

An Indonesian court has sentenced Australian citizen Lamar Aaron Ahchee to 12 years in prison for cocaine smuggling on the island of Bali, where he was apprehended in May.

Ahchee, a 43-year-old from Cairns, Queensland, was arrested after police found 1.7 kilograms of cocaine in his rented residence near Kuta beach. The operations were conducted following reports of suspicious packages arriving from England.

Despite Ahchee's claims of ignorance about the contents, the court deemed the severity of the case significant due to its potential impact on the safety and quality of tourism in Bali.

(With inputs from agencies.)