The Corby case

Schapelle Corby, an Australian woman who was on trial in Indonesia for smuggling 4.1 kilos of marijuana into the country, has just got a 20-year sentence. Oh, dear, and here I was thinking that Indonesian justice system has extremely mild sentences, what with Abu Bakar Bashir (of Jemaah Islamiyah and Bali bombings fame) having gotten only two and a half.

I usually have very little sympathy for Western people (or, for that matter, third-world people) who get caught smuggling drugs wholesale in the countries that give huge sentences for it. Problem is, a lot of people are wondering whether this one got a fair trial.

Another problem is that she is claiming that she had nothing to do with it and that in all likelihood it was baggage handlers using her luggage to smuggle stuff. I have been thinking about the same thing for quite a while now, way before I ever heard of Corby. Both from the point of view that if I were a big-time drug dealer, which I of course am not, I would want to have my people to get jobs as baggage handlers for the increased convenience of smuggling, and from the point of view that I am always worried about somebody smuggling something in my luggage or that of my family and friends. How many of you have had stuff disappear from your luggage? Stuff is just as easy to put in as to take out.

In any case, whether the stuff was smuggled in by Corby or by baggage handlers: why do people smuggle weed from Australia to Indonesia? Is it really that much cheaper in Australia? Indonesia seems like such a good place to grow it...