NZ mother facing heroin charges pregnant

The New Zealand woman charged over an alleged involvement in an international drug smuggling syndicate is a young pregnant mother.

Atoalii Partsch, 21, appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday charged with conspiring to import heroin into Australia.

The unemployed woman is a New Zealand citizen but lives in the Brisbane suburb of Deception Bay. She was arrested on Friday night.

Two others who appeared in court with Partsch - university students Francis Vui Jan Lee, 22, and Alice Yun Hsuan Yang, 19 - face up to 25 years in jail over their alleged involvement with drug smuggling, Commonwealth prosecutor Clive Porritt told the court.

Lee and Yang were charged with importing heroin.

Federal police have alleged links between them and the Bali Nine - a group of Australians who were arrested in Bali last month after four of them were found by police with heroin in bags strapped to their bodies.

Partsch was represented by Legal Aid solicitor Jan Tubb, who told the court: "She's young, she has one child, is unemployed and is pregnant at the moment," Queensland's Sunday Mail newspaper reported.

The trio were remanded on bail to appear in court again on June 3. They have had to surrender their passports and must report to police twice weekly.

An 18-year-old Brisbane man, who was charged with conspiracy to import drugs, is expected to appear in court tomorrow.

Australian Federal Police arrested Partsch, Lee and Yang during raids in Brisbane and Sydney, where 24-year-old Khanh Thanh Ly, 24, was also apprehended.

He faced a charge yesterday in Parramatta Magistrates Court of conspiracy to import heroin and will reappear tomorrow.

Police have alleged that Ly is an associate of Myuran Sukumaran, one of the Bali Nine and reportedly a kingpin of the smuggling ring.

Police said in court yesterday that four of the Bali Nine successfully smuggled heroin into Australia seven months before they were arrested by Indonesian police.

- NZPA