Nine Australians. More than eight kilograms of heroin. A street value of $4 million.
It was the international crime that rocked Australia in 2005, and now it looks like the last members of the Bali Nine serving prison sentences could be coming home.
Who are the Bali Nine?
In April 2005, nine Australians were caught trying to smuggle more than 8.3kg of heroin out of Indonesia.
Those Aussies were Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens and Renae Lawrence.
Under ringleaders Chan and Sukumaran, the group planned to smuggle the drugs into Australia where they’d be worth about $4 million.
Instead, Indonesian police with the support of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) detained and arrested the nine involved before they ever left Indonesian soil.
How did the Bali Nine get caught?
The AFP had suspicions that Sukumaran, Chan, Lawrence and Norman were involved in international drug smuggling before they travelled to Bali in April 2005.
It was believed that those four were part of a larger syndicate that had smuggled a large amount of heroin from Indonesia to Australia in 2004, so when they travelled to Indonesia again in 2005, the AFP was watching.
It alerted Indonesian police to the group’s presence in Bali and shared key details about the individuals involved, including their names, passport numbers, and possible links to the illegal drug trade.
Indonesian police started surveilling the group and continued the surveillance for a full week before arresting them on April 17, 2005.
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Six were arrested at Denpasar airport after Stephens, Lawrence, Rush and Czugaj were discovered with packages of heroin strapped to their bodies.
Chan and Sukumaran were also arrested there in relation to the drugs, though neither were found with drugs on their person.
The remaining three — Chen, Nguyen and Norman — were arrested at the Maslati Hotel at Kuta Beach with about 300 grams of heroin in their possession.
Not long after the news broke in Australia, the group were dubbed the ‘Bali Nine’.
What happened to the Bali Nine?
Trials for the nine Australians commenced in Indonesia over four consecutive days in October 2005.
Seven were sentenced to life in prison by the Denpasar district court: Lawrence, Rush, Czugaj, Stephens, Norman, Chen and Nguyen.
In a shocking move, ringleaders Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death by firing squad.
It was the first time in recorded history that the Denpasar district court handed down death sentences for drug trafficking and sent shockwaves out around the world.
All members of the Bali Nine lodged appeals against their sentences and while some who had received life sentences had them reduced, others faced a much more dire outcome.
Lawrence successfully appealed to have her life sentence reduced to 20 years.
Czugaj successfully appealed for a reduced 20-year jail term, only to have it overturned and his life sentence reimposed.
Chen and Norman appealed and had their life sentences reduced to 20 years, only for those appeal verdicts to be overturned and the death penalty imposed.
Rush and Nguyen also appealed to have their life sentences reduced and were instead sentenced to death.
In March 2008, it was revealed that Norman, Chen and Nguyen’s sentences had been quietly reduced to life in prison. A few months later, Rush’s death sentence was also reduced to life imprisonment.
Chan and Sukumaran both appealed to have their death sentences reduced and, when those appeals were rejected, begged for clemency. Both were rejected.
How many of the Bali Nine were executed?
The two ringleaders of the Bali Nine, Sukumaran and Chan, were executed in 2015.
The executions went ahead despite multiple attempts by Sukumaran and Chan to appeal their sentences, applications for judicial reviews, and bids from both for clemency.
Then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott also appealed directly to Then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo to stop the executions.
“We oppose the death penalty for Australians at home and abroad,” he said in January, 2015.
“We obviously respect the legal systems of other countries, but where there is an attempt to impose the death penalty on an Australian, we make the strongest possible diplomatic representations.”
The executions were delayed and put on hold several times as avenues to save Sukumaran and Chan’s lives were explored, but they ultimately went ahead just over 10 years after they were arrested.
The two men were executed by firing squad at a prison on Nusakambangan island in central Java on April 29, 2015.
Are any of the Bali Nine still in jail?
At the time of writing, five of the Bali Nine remain in prison in Indonesia.
Lawrence was released in November 2018 after serving almost 13 years in prison. Her sentence was reduced for good behavior and she was deported to Australia.
Nguyen died in prison in May 2018 from stomach cancer.
The remaining five members of the Bali Nine — Chen, Czugaj, Norman, Rush and Stephens — are still serving out their sentences in Indonesian jails, but that could soon change.
Will the Bali Nine ever be released?
A private conversation between Albanese and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at the G20 Summit, as well as “consistent advocacy” from the Albanese government, may have secured their return.
“I can confirm the Albanese government has been consistently advocating for the cases of the Bali Nine and this included conversations with former president Widodo and President Prabowo,” Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said.
It’s understood the federal government is waiting for the Indonesian government to make an official announcement before confirming details of the agreement.
If all goes to plan, they could be back on Australian soil before Christmas. It’s expected they would serve out the rest of their sentences here.
