Indonesian police appeal for help on cellphone lead

DENPASAR - Australian police code-breakers will be called in to help Indonesian police crack mobile phone passwords of the Bali nine ringleaders as authorities try to close in on the shadowy masterminds behind the heroin ring.

Police in Bali yesterday said four phones and their user cards belonging to Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan had been seized.

Bali drug squad chief Lieutenant Colonel Bambang Sugiarto said the phones contained vital information which could lead to the ultimate bosses of the gang in Australia.

Most of the nine also had a pre-programmed number in their phones for a "Mr P", whom the four couriers were to call the moment they landed at Sydney airport.

"They all have the same name and number," Sugiarto said.

But three phones in Chan's possession and one belonging to Sukumaran had been switched off and the pair were refusing to tell police the vital security numbers to unlock them.

Sugiarto said the number for Mr P had already been passed to the Australian Federal Police and AFP experts would be called in to crack the phones of Chan and Sukumaran.

- AAP