Australian Guilty in Drug Case
BALI, Indonesia — An Indonesian court today convicted an Australian beauty school student of smuggling marijuana onto the tourist island of Bali and sentenced her to 20 years in prison.
Schapelle Corby, 27, who says she is innocent and that the drugs were planted in her luggage, fought back tears as the verdict was announced.
“Judges are of the opinion that the accused imported marijuana,” Judge Wayan Suastrawan said. “She was arrested red-handed at the airport.”
Corby’s case drew intense interest in her home country, and the court was packed with dozens of Australian journalists, Corby supporters and her relatives, including her mother and father.
Corby was convicted of smuggling 9 pounds of marijuana into Bali’s airport last year in her surfboard bag. Corby could have faced the death penalty, and prosecutors had requested a life sentence.
Corby’s lawyers alleged that the drugs were planted by airport baggage handlers in Australia as part of a drug-smuggling operation and that they ended up in Bali by mistake.
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