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'Bali Six' plotted drug run in Valley karaoke bar, court told
ACCUSED ... Francis Vui Jan Lee, one of three alleged drug mules who appeared in a Brisbane court.
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Georgia Waters | June 11, 2008
An accused drug mule and member of Brisbane's so-called 'Bali Six' complained the tape used to strap heroin to her body during an alleged drug run through Sydney Airport four years ago had irritated her skin, a court has heard.
Alice Yun Hsun Yang, 22 of Stretton, is facing trail in Brisbane's Supreme Court over an alleged conspiracy to import drugs into Australia from the Indonesian tourist mecca between August 1 and December 14, 2004.
Three other's, Shoade Cao, 21 of Sunnybank, Francis Vui Jan Lee, 25 of Stafford Heights and Do Hyung Lee, 27 of Sunnybank, have also pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges.
The final members of the so-called 'Bali Six' - student Khanh Ly, 27, and Atoallii Partsch, 24 - have admitted their role in the alleged ring.
The group are accused of carrying out two separate drug runs alongside the infamous Bali Nine, now languishing in an Indonesian jail, two awaiting death by firing squad.
Ly, who was sentenced to seven years jail after pleading guilty in December, took the stand this morning to testify against the group, telling a Supreme Court jury he had picked up members of the Bali Nine, Andrew Chan and Renee Lawrence, from Sydney Airport after one particular drugs run while Vui Jan Lee, Cao and Yang were picked up in a second car by a man referred to as "Jay".
He said he later saw Yang at a Sydney hotel, where she complained about the tape used to attach drugs to her body.
He told the court the accused mules were promised $10,000 each for carrying drugs back to Australia, while Do Lee allegedly recruited mules for the drug runs and helped drive them to and from the airport.
Ly said Lawrence and the three others in his car had cut packages of "beigey coloured" powder from their bodies and left them in his car before he dropped them off at their homes or at public transport.
He said he was annoyed that the packages of drugs had been left in his car.
"I was kind of stuck in a car full of drugs, by myself, I was getting pretty agitated," Ly said.
"I wasn't told that was the deal. I thought I was just picking people up.
"I was told I was going to get paid for my troubles anyway and I should just shut up," he said.
Ly described how an attempt was made to obscure the smell of the heroin from sniffer dogs at the international airports by adding whole pepper to the packages.
Couriers then wore heavy cologne to mask the smell of the pepper, he said.
He also described a meeting in Brisbane where a second trip to import drugs from Bali was discussed with Vui Jan Lee, Cao and Yang in a Fortitude Valley karaoke bar.
Ly also met Partsch at a Brisbane shopping centre and was told she was "up for it".
The court heard Ly received direction from "Jay", Hyung Lee and Myuran Sukumaran, who is facing death by firing squad after being convicted, along with Chan in 2006.
At the the opening of the trial, Commonwealth Prosecutor Stephen Hall told the court Cao, Francis Lee and Yang travelled twice on drug runs to Bali in 2004.
The trial is expected to run for three weeks.
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Bali Nine gang leader fled, court told
Kevin Meade | June 11, 2008
A LEADING member of the gang that hired the Bali Nine fled from Sydney after they were arrested in April 2005 and was believed to be hiding in Vietnam, a Brisbane court heard today.
Convicted drug smuggler Khanh Thanh Ly told the Queensland Supreme Court that one of the gang's ringleaders, Hong Viet Luong, had contacted him after the Bali arrests and told him he was "getting out'' of Australia.
Ly, who was sentenced to seven years' jail in December for conspiring to import drugs as part of the syndicate, is giving evidence against four other accused drug smugglers.
Do Hyung Lee, 27; Francis Lee, 25; Shaode Cao, 21; and Alice Yang, 22, have all pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring with Hong Viet Luong and Bali Nine ringleaders Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan and others to import heroin into Australia.
Cross-examination of Ly will continue this afternoon.
Yesterday the court heard the syndicate that hired the so-called Bali Nine drug smugglers allegedly organised at least three drug-running trips to the Indonesian island before the nine were arrested.
Commonwealth prosecutor Stephen Hall told the jury that three trips to Bali involving drug-running conspiracies were made in 2004.
Mr Hall said it would be alleged the first trip might or might not have been successful, the second resulted in large quantities being brought back to Australia, while the third was aborted because the heroin supply fell through.
He said Danny Lee, known as "Korean Danny" was a recruiter in the drugs operation while the other three were couriers.
Mr Hall said Danny Lee frequented JJ's Karaoke Lounge in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley entertainment district, where he met two young Brisbane men, Bozidar Ristic and Farhud Gujari, in August 2004. He told them they could make some "quick cash" if they brought something back from overseas.
The two men agreed to the venture and Danny Lee later introduced them to Sukumaran, who told them the job involved travelling to Bali and flying back with "stuff" strapped to their bodies. Sukumaran told them not to worry as it had been done before and no one had been caught.
Mr Ristic and Mr Gujari flew to Bali in October 2004 with Sukumaran and Khanh Thanh Ly, a Sydney man who is now serving a seven-year sentence for conspiring with Sukumaran and others to import heroin.
The court heard Ly had agreed to testify against the accused in return for a reduced sentence.
Mr Hall told the jury they would hear two versions of what happened on the first trip. He said Ly would testify that he saw Mr Ristic and Mr Gujari being strapped with drugs in Bali.
However, the two Brisbane men would give evidence that they got cold feet as they were in Bali at the same time as Schapelle Corby was arrested for smuggling marijuana and there were many police on the island for the anniversary of the first Bali bombing. The two would testify that the trip organisers allowed them to go home without any drugs.
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Drug runner testifies against alleged co-offenders
AAP | Wednesday, 11 June 2008
A man jailed last year for drug running between Australia and Bali has given evidence in court against his alleged accomplices.
Khanh Thanh Ly was jailed for seven years in December after pleading guilty in the Supreme Court in Brisbane to conspiring to import heroin into Australia between August and December 2004.
He today took the stand as a witness during the Supreme Court trial of Australians Shaode Cao, 21, Francis Vui Jun Lee, 25, and Alice Yun Hsuan Yang, 22, and Korean national Do Hyung Lee, 27, who have all pleaded not guilty to similar charges.
Ly today told the court Francis Lee, Yang and Cao accompanied him on two drug runs between Bali and Australia in 2004.
Ly said the trio were each paid $10,000 for carrying into Australia packages of heroin which had been strapped to their bodies.
The court was told that two members of the Bali Nine -- who were arrested in Bali in early 2005 -- had also accompanied them on the trip in October 2004.
The court was told the trio took a second trip to Bali in December 2004 but that the planned importation was aborted after drugs could not be obtained for a reasonable price.
Ly today told the court the fourth accused, Do Lee, was responsible for recruiting mules in Brisbane, and that he had witnessed this taking place at a number of meetings.
Francis Lee, Yang and Cao have each pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiring to import prohibited goods into Australia.
Do Lee has pleaded not guilty to three similar charges.
The trial continues.
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Star witness in 'Bali Six' trial a former drug addict
Georgia Waters | June 11, 2008
The star witness in a Supreme Court trial for four Brisbane men and women accused of plotting to import heroin into Australia alongside the Bali Nine has been outed as a former ecstasy addict.
Sydney student Khanh Ly, 27, faced cross-examination by defence barristers acting for Alice Yun Hsun Yang, 22 of Stretton, Shoade Cao, 21 of Sunnybank, Francis Vui Jan Lee, 25 of Stafford Heights, and Do Hyung Lee, 27 of Sunnybank, who have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to import drugs from Bali in 2004.
Ly and another woman, 24-year-old Atoallii Partsch, of Deception Bay, have admitted their role in the alleged drug ring, dubbed the 'Bali Six'.
Ly, who is currently serving a seven year jail term after pleading guilty in December, today testified he had been part of a Sydney "drug gang" for the three years leading up to the alleged importations of heroin from Bali in 2004, and knew a number of the defendants to have taken part.
He confirmed he had used cannabis, "ice" and other amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine and admitted selling ecstasy tablets to support his addiction to the drug.
Defence lawyers have tried to discredit Ly by arguing he has given statements at the trial inconsistent with those he provided at his own committal hearing.
It has also been argued by the defence that Ly was much more senior in his "drug gang" than he had admitted.
Ly has stated he was little more than a "runaround" for more senior members of the gang, and was never paid but did it for the "glamour" and entries to parties and clubs he would otherwise not have gotten in to.
He said Bali Nine ringleader Myuran Sukumaran, who is facing death by firing squad after being convicted in an Indonesian court in 2006, was also part of the gang.
However defence lawyers argued that he had met the gang's unnamed "big boss", which he would not have been able to do if he were simply a "runaround".
The trial before Justice Debra Mullins continues.
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