As Perth teenager Jamie Murphy arrives back in Australia after his ordeal in Bali, an author who has spent years researching the drug world in Indonesia told Hack that he was “absolutely” the victim of a common shakedown scam.
Kathryn Bonella, who has spent ten years researching a trilogy of books on the drug underworld in Indonesia, says that extortion through drug busts are one means by which crims make money – and that Murphy was very likely a victim of such a scheme.
Why was he kept from Monday night till Wednesday afternoon to figure out the drugs were Pandadol? It’s ridiculous. Why? There’s only one reason why – they were obviously cleaning up.I wonder how much the parents forked out. Headlines in Australian papers that he’s facing 12 years in Hotel K [Kerkoban prison]; the parents would have been terrified and hired lawyers, which are not cheap. The cops would have been doing deals.
In her book Snowing in Bali, Bonella alleges collusion between Bali cops and dealers who distribute fake drugs, many of which are produced with over-the-counter pharmaceuticals like paracetamol.
Most of these guys go into [the local convenience store] and get a bunch of Panadol and crush it up and flog it to drunk Aussie tourists who are just gullible and prepared to put their hand in their pocket and hand over money to these guys.The guy said he regularly got herded up by police, put in a room with heaps of other fake dealers, and then released in the morning to go back and sell.
Kuta police say that Jamie told them he bought the baggie of white powder from a man on the street who told him “it would make him feel better”. If that’s true, then Murphy is probably the luckiest bloke out right now.
Source: Triple J Hack.
Photo: 9 News.
