October 13, 2004

THE haul of 4.1kg of loose marijuana heads found by Indonesian police in a bodyboard bag owned by Australian Schapelle Corby was the biggest Australian importation of the drug in Bali's history, according to drug squad chief Bambang Sugiarto.

Ms Corby, 27, a student at a beauty school on the Gold Coast, told journalists at police headquarters in Denpasar yesterday she feared for the future.

"Help me, help me," she said as she was being led from the interrogation room back to her cell after further questioning. "Tell my mum and dad I love them."

Bali police displayed the bodyboard bag and the pillow-sized stash to journalists, and said it was of Australian origin.

Commonly called "lemon juice" in Bali, Australian marijuana sells for at least 10 times the price of local marijuana, the police said.

Contained in two plastic sacks, one within the other, the drug would be tested in a laboratory and Australian police had been asked for their assistance, Lieutenant-Colonel Sugiarto said.

Police said Ms Corby had claimed she didn't notice the difference in weight when she retrieved the board bag from the baggage carousel at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport last Friday afternoon.

Corby travelled to Bali with two friends and her brother James, 17, on an Australian Airlines flight from Brisbane via Sydney.

Asked at the airport what was in the sack, she had said "it's marijuana", Colonel Sugiarto alleged. She then denied it was hers, or that she knew anything about it.

The bag had no lock, he said, and it was conceivable that someone else had hidden the drugs in Ms Corby's bag, although Indonesian police would continue to build a case against her and it would then be up to the judges to decide, he said.

"The penalty? It could be the death sentence," he added.

Police had 60 days to build their case, Colonel Sugiarto said, and Ms Corby would not be offered bail. Police plan to interrogate her brother James.

JURY IS STILL OUT FOR ME ON THIS ONE, ALTHOUGH I HAVE TO SAY ITS LOOKING MORE AND MORE AGAINST HER.