An experienced Indonesian customs officer’s (pictured) sixth sense led to catching Schapelle Corby, then aged 27, at Bali’s airport.
It was an experienced Indonesian customs officer’s sixth sense that led to Schapelle Corby, then aged 27, being caught inside Bali’s airport.
I Gusti Ngurah Winata was checking for bags arriving in the x-ray at Ngura Rai International Airport, Bali, from AO7829 from Sydney, when a blue boogie board bag cover appeared orange.
Using 20 years’ experience of detecting suspect items, Winata chose not to mark the bag with an ‘X’ as was normal procedure, but instead rather secretly track the bag himself, he told the The Gold Coast Bulletin .
Schapelle Corby’s brother took the bag off the carousel and then carried the bag to the group approaching ‘nothing to declare’ customs line. But before they left, Winata approached them and asked to check the bag.
After Schapelle Corby said it was her bag, the officer asked her to open it, leading to one of the dividing arguments over the high-profile case.
Winata said when he went to open the big zip, Corby appeared nervous and tried to stop him. After asking why, he claims she said: ‘I have some…’, according to the publication.
He claims she admitted to stashing marijuana in the boogie board bag. Komang Gelgel was the second officer who claimed she admitted to owning the marijuana.
Corby and her family disagree with his version of events and claim he never asked to view the contents, that Schapelle showed him what was inside the bag without being prompted and she was not nervous.
She also still denies ever confessing to owning the drugs.
The customs officer found 4.1kg of high quality marijuana underneath the boogie board, the largest haul Winata had dealt with and the first to come from Australia.
Winata has not waned from his version of events to this day claiming he had no reason to lie.
Schapelle endured one of the nation’s largest media trials with her sentence televised in Australia.
She was sentenced to 20 years’ in prison, but served nine-and-a-half years in Kerobokan prison with three years parole in Bali.
She is expected to arrive back in Australia on Sunday morning.
