Bali court jails Australian for six months

A court in Bali has handed an Australian man a six-month sentence for possession of a large quantity of drugs.

Thirty-seven-year-old Chris Currall could be back in Australia within days after time served is taken into account.

Currall from Darwin was arrested last September and charged with possessing and attempting to send to Australia as many as 70,000 tablets of ephedrine, the pharmaceutical drug also used to produce methamphetamine.

Facing a maximum 15-year jail sentence for breaking Indonesian pharmaceutical control laws, Currall claims the drugs were not his.

Ultimately the three judges in the Denpasar court found him guilty only of acting as an unlicensed pharmacist, sentencing him to just six months in jail, almost exactly the time he has already served.

Providing Currall can pay for a $400 fine and for an air ticket, he could be deported back to Australia later this week.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Mon, 21 March 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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