The cocaine was allegedly hidden and wrapped in 206 Lindor Lindt chocolate wrappers.<\/p>\n
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Police said they were tipped off about the packages when they arrived at Denpasar, then tracked them to Mr Ahchee at his apartment in Tibubeneng in North Kuta.<\/p>\n
He allegedly arranged to have them picked up from post offices by ride-share drivers, with police alleging he was offered $4,700 to have them delivered to him.<\/p>\n
Cairns-born Mr Ahchee has been living in Indonesia for several years, working in hospitality and marketing.<\/p>\n
In August, police finished their investigation and handed the matter over to Bali’s prosecutors to bring the matter to trial.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Police allegedly found the cocaine in chocolate wrappers. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Over the next month or two, a Bali District court will determine whether Mr Ahchee is guilty of four charges, ranging from importing and distributing, through to possession and use.<\/p>\n
If found guilty of importing, distributing, selling, or accepting more than one kilogram of cocaine, Mr Ahchee could face the death penalty, life imprisonment or a sentence of more than 5 years.<\/p>\n
If, however, he is found guilty of possession or a lesser charge of drug use, Mr Ahchee could be sentenced to a shorter jail term.<\/p>\n
Death penalty unlikely<\/p>\n
Police said the cocaine was delivered to Mr Ahchee by someone he called “the boss”.<\/p>\n
Mr Ahchee was then allegedly told to find a phone in a brown envelope in the bushes near a Canggu caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
That phone was then allegedly used to organise the delivery.<\/p>\n
Police also say Mr Ahchee returned a positive drug test for cocaine at the time of his arrest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lamar Ahchee (right) has been has been held in Kerobokan since prosecutors took over the case. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Since police handed his matter over to Bali’s prosecutors, Mr Ahchee has been held in Kerobokan, Bali’s main jail.<\/p>\n
Those following the case say it is unlikely Mr Ahchee will be given the death penalty, or that even if he is, it is unlikely he will be executed.<\/p>\n
Indonesia last carried out the death penalty in 2016 and several foreign nationals who have been sentenced to death have been returned home in recent years.<\/p>\n
Three British citizens who were recently found guilty of smuggling just under 1 kilogram of cocaine into Bali were sentenced to one year in prison.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lamar Ahchee’s family thanked Indonesian authorities for their professionalism in a statement in June.<\/p>\n
A lawyer on Mr Ahchee’s legal team, Ida Bagus Sakti, said he and the team felt they could “win the case.”<\/p>\n
“Me and my team are specialised in these narcotics cases,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’re confident 100 per cent we can get the lightest sentence of all the (charges).”<\/p>\n
In June, Mr Ahchee’s family travelled to Bali and released a short statement to the media thanking Indonesian authorities for their “professionalism and impartiality”.<\/p>\n
“We are grateful for the fair and respectful treatment he has received from law enforcement and legal officials throughout this process,” Mr Ahchee’s sister, Stephanie, said.<\/p>\n
“We acknowledge the seriousness of this case and the situation and remain committed to full cooperation with the legal system to ensure a just outcome.”<\/p>\n
Mr Ahchee’s lawyers have previously told the ABC he was a drug user, but not a dealer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trial for an Australian man accused of being involved in drug smuggling in Bali has begun, with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":218215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,10002,6332,79726,9996,119163,119164,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-218214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-bali","10":"tag-chocolate","11":"tag-cocaine","12":"tag-indonesia","13":"tag-lamar-ahchee","14":"tag-lindt","15":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115185817159590563","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}