Australian man in Bali drug-smuggling case says he was helping a friend

An Australian man accused of smuggling 1.8 kilograms of cocaine into Bali told a Bali court he was simply helping a friend by receiving two packages at his home on the Indonesian island. Lamar Aaron Ahchee, 43, of Cairns, was arrested May 22 after police allegedly found cocaine concealed in 54 Lindt chocolate wrappers in his apartment north of Kuta.

Airport customs officer Angga Aryo testified that authorities discovered two suspicious mail packages sent from the United Kingdom, and tests showed the contents were drugs. Each wrapper in the Lindt boxes reportedly contained 8.3 grams of cocaine. Ahchee has said he did not know the packages contained drugs and that he was merely assisting a friend when he accepted delivery at his residence.

Asked why he was the recipient, Ahchee told police he was helping his friend named “Boss” and that the address on the package did not belong to him. “I'm not sure about the address on the package; he said it was my address, I never knew about the package at all, I was just helping my friend,” he told the court. Prosecutors noted that this modus operandi involves the person who ordered the goods telling someone else to accept the mail.

Ahchee has maintained the drugs were not his and that he was simply assisting a friend to carry them. If convicted on drug offenses, he could face the death penalty. Last week, one of his lawyers, Ida Bagus Sakti, said he was confident the case would not carry the death penalty and suggested the defense would secure a lighter outcome due to the team’s narcotics specialization. “Me and my team are specialised in these narcotics cases,” Sakti said, adding he expected the decision to be as light as possible. “I'm confident my client will not be charged with (the) death penalty (and) I do have confidence in our team that we're going to win the case,” he said, arguing that experience would help.

Ahchee’s background includes growing up in Cairns and later living in Sydney, where he resided in a high-end Bellevue Hill unit and worked as a VIP manager at Marquee and later Casablanca nightclubs. By 2019, he had moved to Bali, where online profiles list him as the director and co-founder of technology groups. His sister, Stephanie, visited him in Bali and publicly thanked Indonesian authorities for their handling of the case, saying the family appreciated the professionalism shown by law enforcement and officials throughout the process.

Authorities say Ahchee has been held at Kerobokan prison in Bali, where his sister reported he was holding up well during a June visit. The case is scheduled to return to court next Thursday for further proceedings and potential determinations on the charges and possible penalties.