Australian officials deny 'exporting death penalty'

CANBERRA - Australian officials have defended the decision to allow nine Australians accused of drug-smuggling to be arrested in Indonesia, where they could face the death penalty.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) said they could not allow the alleged drug-runners to make it back to Australia just to avoid a possible death sentence.

Mike Phelan, the AFP border and international network national manager, said Australian agents had been gathering information about the group for about 10 weeks and handed it to Indonesian police two weeks ago. But he said it was not up to Australia to decide where the group were arrested.

"When we're involved in international co-operation, these offences have occurred in another jurisdiction and it's very much the domain of the law enforcement authorities in that jurisdiction as to what action they take.

"This is the way the AFP has been working for many years."

Civil libertarian groups in Australia have demanded that the Government clarify whether it is "exporting the death penalty to other countries".

"What has to be answered by federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison is, why were these people the subject of an arrest in Indonesia, where it's already been said quite categorically that if found guilty, no question, they will be executed," said Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the AFP could not allow the group to return to Australia before arresting them because the alleged offences were committed in Indonesia, and the Indonesian police had to be involved.

"A sillier thing for people to do, I just cannot imagine," he told the Nine Network.

"People have to know that trafficking in drugs brings the death penalty in many countries, particularly in Asia."

Mr Downer said Australia would always appeal for clemency when an Australian faced the death penalty.

The nine faced further interrogation in Bali yesterday after being accused of trying smuggle more than 11kg of heroin into Australia.

Four of the accused were detained at Bali's airport on Sunday, allegedly with heroin strapped to their bodies.

A fifth person was also arrested at the airport, and four others were taken into custody during a hotel raid in which sandwich-sized blocks of heroin were allegedly found.

Indonesian police said the Australians would not have been allowed to travel to Sydney before being arrested to avoid a death sentence.

Colonel AS Reniban said the AFP had needed the co-operation of Indonesian police to mount a surveillance operation, and Bali authorities would not have allowed the nine to board their flight to Australia.

"All smugglers here must be arrested," he said.

The Australian newspaper yesterday named the alleged mastermind of the group as Andrew Chan, 21, of Enfield in Sydney. He was pulled off a Sydney-bound flight at Denpasar.

"Whatever happened to [Bali drug accused] Schapelle Corby happened to me," Chan told reporters in Bali. "They are convicting me of something I didn't do."

- AAP