Freed Australian drug trafficker reunited with family

By BILLY ADAMS

SYDNEY - The briskness of an early autumn morning brought it all home for Lyle Doniger as he set foot on Australian soil for the first time in six years after being pardoned by the King of Thailand.

There was a sense that the drug trafficker who was sentenced to 50 years in a stifling Bangkok prison could not quite believe he was home.

He did a double take on spotting airport police but they were not looking for him.

"For two years you think about getting out," he told a media pack after negotiating the customs hall. "You make plans and then after that you don't. You can't think about it."

Doniger was one of three Australians who agreed to be "mules" in an operation to smuggle drugs out of Bangkok. Caught at the city's international airport with about 115g of heroin stuffed in condoms hidden in their bodies, they received life sentences which were commuted to 50 years' jail in return for guilty pleas.

Last week Doniger was told his application for a royal pardon had been successful.

He will now campaign for the release of Jane McKenzie and Deborah Spinner, the two women convicted with him in 1996 who remain in Klong Prem jail.

They are pinning their hopes on a prisoner transfer system between the two countries, yet to be approved.

Doniger believes the women, both in their mid 30s, have paid their price for a crime committed by three heroin addicts who were out of control.

Reunited with family, Doniger said: "It will take a while to start over."