Australia helps Bali drug probe

Australia helps Bali drug probe

SYDNEY: Without the help of Indonesia and other countries that executed dealers Australia wouldn't be able to intercept large shipments of drugs, the nation's top policeman said Sunday.

Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty rebuffed allegations that officers were risking lives by sharing intelligence with their Indonesian counterparts.

Five of the nine young Australians arrested last week in Bali face a firing squad if they are found guilty of attempting to smuggle almost 11 kilograms of heroin into Australia.

"We operate within our criminal justice system here in Australia and if we only cooperated with countries that had the same criminal justice system, cooperation wouldn't extend very far beyond Australia," Keelty said on television.

He added: "To a large degree, this has been successful, certainly in terms of heroin trafficking. We now have around 350 Australians die from heroin overdoses each year. Four years ago, it was over the 1,100 mark."

Keelty said he would continue the policy of sharing intelligence with Indonesian investigators.

"Of course, anything we have here, we will provide to the Indonesians," he said. "Conversely, anything the Indonesians glean from their investigation, we would expect them to share with us."

The arrest of the Bali Nine comes as 27-year-old Brisbane beauty student Schapelle Corby is in court in Denpasar fighting charges that she attempted to smuggle cannabis into Indonesia. Corby doesn't face the death sentence but may earn a life sentence. --DPA