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19 Dec 2025 20:17
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  •   Home > News > International

    Australian man Lamar Ahchee sentenced to 12 years in prison for role in Bali cocaine-smuggling plot

    An Australian man is sentenced to 12 years in a Bali prison for his role in trafficking cocaine into the country in Lindt chocolate wrappers.


    An Australian man has been sentenced to 12 years in a Bali prison for his role in trafficking cocaine into Indonesia.

    Lamar Ahchee was arrested earlier this year after police tracked the delivery of two packages to his apartment in the Bali district of North Kuta.

    Inside was 1.7 kilograms of cocaine, concealed across more than 200 Lindt chocolate wrappers.

    A Bali court on Thursday found the 42-year-old guilty of distributing an illicit substance, an offence that can carry the death penalty as a maximum sentence.

    He has also been fined $180,000.

    Chief Judge Tjokorda Putra Budi Pastima said the court considered both aggravating and mitigating factors in the sentencing.

    "The defendant was evasive and attempted to obscure the facts and his role, portraying himself as if he had no knowledge that the package he received contained narcotics," he said.

    Ahchee's remorse and lack of previous convictions were part of the mitigating factors.

    "The defendant has never previously been convicted," the chief judge said.

    "He expressed remorse and promised not to repeat his actions. The defendant also behaved politely during the trial proceedings."

    Throughout the trial Ahchee denied knowing the packages contained drugs.

    In the final weeks of the trial, he claimed he was told the packages contained toys, and he was fearful of the person who asked they be delivered to his house.

    'Sincere remorse'

    At court last week, Ahchee submitted a letter expressing his "sincere remorse".

    "I stand before you today in a position I never imagined, one born of personal weakness, fear, and calculated deception," he said in the letter.

    "I take full responsibility for my actions and offer no excuse, only the truth."

    In the letter, Ahchee describes battling an addiction to cocaine while living and working in Sydney, a "struggle" that "followed [him] to Bali".

    He then alleges that he was "deceived, coerced and manipulated" by another man while he was in Bali.

    In the letter, Ahchee said that the man told him to collect a package that contained "children's toys".

    Ahchee will be sent to Bali's Kerobokan prison, where has spent the past few months.

    Drugs monitored by police before arrest

    Officers in Bali said that they received a tip-off that there would be two packages containing drugs arriving from overseas, one addressed to an apartment in North Kuta, and the other destined for an address in Mengwi.

    Customs officers detected the cocaine inside the packages via X-ray and contacted police.

    Authorities then monitored the delivery of the packages.

    The following day, investigators said Ahchee contacted a motorbike delivery rider through a mobile app and asked him to collect one of the packages from a post office.

    Police said the package was collected and passed on to another delivery driver before being driven to the apartment in North Kuta, before the original driver picked up the second package from a different post office and drove it directly to the same address.

    Ahchee was arrested that same day after receiving the packages.

    © 2025 ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved

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