Shackled Australians paraded in front of cameras after drug arrests in Bali

Police officers show evidence as they parade Australian nationals David van Iersel, rear right, and William Cabantog, left, during a press conference at the regional police headquarters in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.

Two Australian men - with the hands in handcuffs and legs shackled - were paraded in front of the Indonesia press on Tuesday after their arrest last week on suspicion of drug possession and use.

William Cabantog and David van Iersel were arrested on Friday at the Lost City Club in the island’s trendy Canggu neighborhood, with 1.12 grams of cocaine.

A police statement said Cabantog, 36, and van Iersel, 38, are expected to be charged under Indonesian law 112 which covers drug possession.

Sky News reported each suspect faces prison sentences ranging from four to 12 years if they are convicted, along with a fine of 800 million rupiahs ($57,243.03).

Cabantog, who was described as a hospitality consultant, was well known for circulating cocaine in Canggu while van Iersel managed the Lost City Club, authorities said.

They both reportedly purchased 2 grams of cocaine for three million rupiahs ($214.66).

The pair have since undergone days of interrogation and tests while in prison.

“We advise tourists, locals, and foreigners to come here for a holiday, don’t come to have a drugs party or to use drugs," Denpasar police chief Ruddi Setiawan told reporters, according to Sky News. “We will take firm action if any foreigners resist. We will not be lenient.”

No other information was immediately available on any court appearance or defense for the two men.

Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and has sometimes executed convicted smugglers.

More than 150 people are currently on death row, mostly for drug crimes, and about one-third of them are foreigners.

Relations between Indonesia and Australia were strained in 2015 when two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were the ringleaders of a drug smuggling system dubbed the “Bali Nine” by Australian media, were executed by firing squad, Sky News reported.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo told police officers to continue to shoot drug traffickers in 2017.

“Be firm, especially to foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist arrest,” he stated at the time. “Shoot them because we indeed are in a narcotics emergency position now.”

Source: Fox News, Morgan Cheung and the Associated Press, July 23, 2019

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