Fed: Lawyer maintains her clients were threatened

AAP General News (Australia)
04-26-2005
Fed: Lawyer maintains her clients were threatened

CANBERRA, April 26 AAP - The lawyer representing two of the Bali nine is maintaining
they were threatened with physical harm to loved ones if they refused to take part in
the heroin smuggling operation.

Indonesian lawyer Anggia Browne said Martin Stephens, 29, of Wollongong, had told her
his family was in danger.

Stephens and Ms Browne's other client Renae Lawrence, 27, of Wallsend, near Newcastle,
could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Ms Browne said Stephens had been told his parents and fiancee could be harmed.

"They showed him the photo of the family and he also said they told him they knew of
his parents' activity - where they live, what they are doing," Ms Browne told ABC radio.

"So they know.

"If he did not bring that stuff they would kill his parents, they would kill his fiancee
and then after that they would kill him."

Lawrence had told her that her parents would be harmed, she said.

Ms Browne would not name the person who made the threats but when asked if it was safe
to assume the person responsible was alleged gang "godfather" Andrew Chan, 21, she replied:
"Yes".

Ms Browne said Stephens and Lawrence were threatened on the night they were due to
fly back to Australia after they objected to what they had been asked to carry.

"They wanted to pull out ... after they knew it was heroin," she said.

"And then they did not have any option, they did not have any choice."

Ms Browne said her clients were aware they were expected to bring something back to
Australia, but not that it was heroin.

"They knew that they were wanted to take something but not that stuff," she said.

"They did not assume that it was heroin."

Ms Browne said Lawrence and Stephens did not know the identity of those behind the deal.

Questioning of the nine Australian suspects is expected to continue today after four
were taken to hospital yesterday.

Police allege 2kg to 3kg blocks of heroin were strapped to the bodies of four of the
suspects waiting to board an Australia-bound aircraft at Denpasar airport on April 17
- Stephens, Lawrence, 19-year-old Scott Rush of Brisbane and Michael Czugaj, 19, also
from Brisbane.

Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported that police have said 24-year-old
Myuran Sukumaran, from Auburn in Sydney, was high-ranking in the drugs operation.

The head of the Bali drugs squad reportedly identified martial arts expert Sukumaran
as the man behind death threats to the families of those caught with heroin at Denpasar
airport.

Lieutenant-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto told the paper that Sukumaran was the second man
involved, along with Chan, who has denied the allegations.

AAP db/br

KEYWORD: INDON DRUGS SECOND DAYLEAD

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