Pubdate: Mon, 07 Mar 2005
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Website: http://www.theage.com.au/
Photo: Schapelle Leigh Corby is accused of smuggling 4.2 kg of marijuana 
into Bali. http://www.mapinc.org/images/corby.jpg
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Schapelle+Corby (Schapelle Corby)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

BAG HANDLER THEORY OVER CORBY CASE

Baggage handlers could have put marijuana into the luggage of an
Australian woman on trial for importing marijuana into Indonesia, it
has been suggested.

Callers to ABC youth network Triple J's Hack program, who included
drug traffickers, drug users and baggage handlers, said they believed
Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby, 27, was innocent.

One person who emailed the show initially raised the theory, which
then received a flood of talkback calls backing up the suggestion.

Several people who worked as baggage handlers told the program that
trafficking drugs between states was widespread among their colleagues.

They said it was likely that the intended recipient of the drugs in
Australia had been unable to remove them from Corby's boogie board bag
before the luggage went on to Indonesia.

Corby denies smuggling 4.1 kg of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar Airport
in her unlocked boogie board bag in October last year.

She had flown from Brisbane to Sydney before boarding a connecting
flight to Indonesia. When she arrived at Sydney, her bags were taken
to the international airport, to join Australian Airlines flight
AO7829 to Bali.

Corby faces the death penalty if convicted.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has expressed concern at the way her
case has been handled and has pledged to provide her with consular
assistance.

A man who claimed to be a drug trafficker told Hack that "no-one in
their right mind would import drugs from Australia to Indonesia.

"Why? Because there's no incentive. Why would you pay $10,000 for
something in Australia and then try and sell it in Indonesia for a
couple of hundred bucks.

"You would have to be an A-grade moron to think it's a good
idea."

A man who said he had worked as a baggage handler said he knew of
colleagues who would write on the back of passengers' bags and put
marijuana in there to ship between states.

"It doesn't actually go through to any of the custom areas," the
caller said.

"It's put on board by a particular baggage handler and then obviously
coordinated for a shift worker who is on when that plane arrives . . .
and then taken off.

"They can do a pre-alert at the receiving port and have that
particular person actually aware of the particular location of the
bag, of what is on the plane.

"It ships basially in the areas where it isn't as accesible, hence the
value being higher. The incentives are there, sent it to the parts
where it isn't acessible and you can demand a higher price for it."

Several inconsistencies have been raised during the Corby case, with
claims Indonesian police had either lost or bungled key evidence.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake