The threatened release of surviving Bali Nine prisoners has reignited debate over the role of a father and Australian police in tipping off Indonesian authorities about the drug smuggling plot, which has led to two executions and lengthy prison sentences.
Lee Rush, father of jailed Bali Nine member Scott Rush, contacted the Australian Federal Police asking them to stop his son from leaving Australia in a desperate bid to prevent him from becoming involved in any drug activity also.
That contact helped expose the group’s 2005 plan to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Indonesia back to Australia.
The AFP forwarded that information to Indonesian authorities who targeted the group that arrested Scott Rush, who is still serving a life sentence in Indonesia, along with Matthew Norman, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen and Michael Czugaj.
Scott Rush’s lawyer claimed in 2005 that the AFP had gone back on promises to stop the group from leaving Australia, instead flying them to a country they knew could execute the smugglers.
In subsequent arrests at Bali’s Denpasar airport and other locations in Indonesia, the plot was foiled and leaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were sentenced to death.
Both were executed by firing squad in April 2015.
In 2015, the AFP denied moral complicity in that sentence, saying Indonesian authorities acted on more information about the group than just Lee Rush’s tip.
“I want to take the pressure off Scott Rush’s father. It is widely reported that his tip led to this. That didn’t happen. I sympathize with Mr Rush that it is being portrayed that way,” AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin said at a press conference at the time.
“The AFP was already aware of, and had begun investigating, what we believed was a syndicate actively recruiting couriers to import narcotics into Australia at the time of Mr Rush’s contact with the AFP.”
Scott Rush (pictured left) with his father Lee Rush who tipped off Australian Federal Police about his son’s drug smuggling intentions
Commissioner Colvin also emphasized that there was not enough evidence to arrest the Bali Nine members before they left Australia, and that allowing them to travel exposed the wider syndicate.
‘We were working with a very incomplete picture at the time. “We didn’t know everyone involved, we didn’t know all the plans, or even what the illegal product was likely to be,” Commissioner Colvin said.
He said it was “operationally appropriate” for the AFP to then cooperate with and seek assistance from Indonesia.
When asked why the AFP had not asked Indonesian authorities to fly the drug couriers back to Australia and arrest them, Commissioner Colvin said this was outside Australia’s jurisdiction.
“This is a harsh reality for Australians who go abroad and become involved in serious crimes,” he said.
Subsequently, AFP Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan indicated that the AFP needed more information about the wider syndicate.
Scott and Lee Rush (also pictured right, Scott’s mother Christine) talking in 2005, shortly after the arrest of the Bali Nine
“To get them to come back to Australia, we might have taken a few mules, but we couldn’t have had any evidence relating to the wider syndicate,” he said.
However, Mr Phelan admitted he felt conflicted in handing over the information to the Indonesians.
“It’s been bothering me for 10 years now, and every time I look back I still think it’s a difficult decision,” he said.
“But given what I knew at the time, and what our officers knew, it would take a lot of convincing for me to make a different decision.”
“I have seen the misery that drugs cause to tens of thousands of families in this country.”
Pictured above L-R: Myuran Sukumaran, Scott Rush, Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, Renae Lawrence, and below: Si Yi Chen, Matthew Norman, Michael Czugaj, Martin Stephen and Andrew Chan
Mr Phelan said he was under no illusions about what handing over the information could mean.
“Yes, I knew very well that by handing over the information, requesting surveillance and asking for evidence collected, they would take action and expose them to the death penalty if they found them in possession of drugs,” said he.
“I knew that, I went in with an open mind.”
Of the other Bali Nine members arrested in the original arrest, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of cancer in 2018, while Renae Lawrence was released the same year after her life sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal.
Daily Mail readers comment on Bali Nine stories have received mixed reactions to the alleged involvement of Lee Rush and the AFP.
“Tiped off by Scott Rush’s father who, I believe, begged federal law enforcement to intervene and stop his son from destroying his life. As a parent I always felt that the FP betrayed that poor father,” said one person.
‘Rightly or wrongly, I can’t help but get rid of that.’
Mick Keelty was Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police at the time of the arrest of the Bali Nine
“What a betrayal by the AFP, they knew what would happen to them if they were arrested in Bali, why not arrest them when they get to Australia?” asked another.
“There were potential heroin deaths in the future, but the Bali bombers who killed with intent served less time.”
Some blamed the AFP commissioner at the time of the arrest, Mick Keelty.
“Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty was fully responsible for this mess and the subsequent executions of Chan and Sukumaran,” one reader wrote.
‘He warned the Indonesian police of the plot to bring heroin to Australia, while he was well aware of the consequences for those Australians.
“The word AUSTRALIANS should not be overlooked. It would have been so easy to arrest them all in Australia and they would have been subject to Australian law.”
“Bringing drugs out of a country should not have resulted in the deaths of Chan and Sukumaran,” said another.
‘It is clear that all Bali 9 could have been rehabilitated. They were so young, stupid and naive.’
The Australian government has now requested that the remaining Bali Nine be allowed to return home, and Indonesian authorities are expected to extradite them later this year.