Donna Demaio: Australian Correspondent on Lamar Aaron Ahchee's arrest for smuggling cocaine in Bali

A 43-year-old Australian man arrested in Bali for smuggling cocaine, could face the death penalty. 

Lamar Aaron Ahchee was picked up by Police at the location where the drugs were allegedly delivered. 

More than 200 small packages of cocaine were confiscated, weighing almost two kilograms. 

Australian correspondent Donna Demaio told Ryan Bridge Ahchee has yet to be charged, but has been presented to media at a press conference wearing an orange jumpsuit and black balaclava. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don Demayo's with us out of Australia. Don a good morning,
good morning to you. Now you've got a snap ban
on machetes in Victoria. This is the violent brawl that
we've seen in the shopping center.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yes, so from tomorrow you can no longer purchase the
machete in Victoria. And that does follow that vicious brawl
in the shopping center in the Melbourne suburb of Preston.
Now two teenagers sixteen and fifteen years old are alleged
to be the main offenders. They were both on bail
at the time. The skirmish was between rival gangs, it's
understood and as you can imagine, shoppers going about their

(00:34):
business on a Sunday afternoon were left scurrying for safety,
absolutely petrified as to what was going on there. And
now four mails have been charged. Police are still looking
for three others. But the government has introduced this snap
ban on the sale of machetes from midday tomorrow. And
the police say that there's three machetes that had been

(00:55):
seized and a total of four is believed to have
been used in the brawl. So the Premier has come
out and said these knives have no place on our streets.
So these laws will get these dangerous weapons off the streets,
according to the Premier, and they've moved as quickly as possible.
And in her words, we must never let the places

(01:16):
we gather, where families shop and enjoy the peace of
their weekend, become places that we fear.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well, yeah, that's true. But once they just use something else,
you know what I mean? But what are you going
to do? I hope not baseball bats, you know what
I mean. I suppose it's a reaction, isn't it. Hey?
You yes? What about this guy in Bali with the
drugs chargers charges? Pretty major?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Absolutely. There's an Australian man who's from Sidney, Lamar Aaron Acchi.
He could face the death penalty for allegedly smuggling one
point eight kilos of cocaine in Bali. The forty three
year old was arrested. He was presented to the media,
let's say, in an orange jumpsuit and black block clava yesterday.
We know that the police believed the drugs, estimated to

(02:03):
be worth about one point one million dollars, were imported
to Indonesia disguised as would you believe linked chocolates in
two separate packages. They arrived from the UK allegedly. Now
we have heard from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs
that they are providing consular assistance, but there's no actual
charges being laid yet, so we're waiting to hear. Police
don't believe that mister Archo was the mastermind. They say

(02:26):
he was promised around four thousand, seven hundred Aussie dollars
to pick up the packages.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's a raw deal deal for him, isn't it. Donna,
thank you for that. Appreciate your time. Dona Demo, our
Australia correspondent. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
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