a "better world"

Who does this guy think he is kidding?

I read an interview from a Bali jail with confessed Bali Nine heroin smuggler (I refuse to call him a “mule”) Scott Rush and I almost puked.

Listen to this. He said: “I am not out to make a worse world. I am out to make a better world”.  Yeah, sure.

That’s why he had all that heroin strapped to his body to bring back to sell to Aussie teenagers to stick in their veins. After they rob innocent people’s houses to pay for it. A much better world Mr. Rush.

And he is still clinging to the bulldust argument that he thought he was on a free holiday and he only turned into a so-called “drug mule” after the gang’s bosses threatened his life and those of his family.

The obvious question – as I have said before: How did he even know these guys? How did he and other gang members meet them?  Had he never heard that there is no such thing as a free lunch… let alone a free holiday in Bali. And what did he think they were doing when they strapped packages to his back and thighs and taught him how to bend without attracting attention?

Did he think he was smuggling talcum powder?

All of this is part of his mercy plea to the judges to try to avoid a life sentence. But there is one telling point in his interview. He was asked if  he thought the judges believed him. And he said: “I hope so because I never had anything to do with heroin or anything you know, especially to this degree”.

“Especially to this degree”. What does that mean? Was he a user? Was that how he met the alleged gang leaders? Did they promise him free or cheap smack if he did the drug run for them?

The Bali Nine took a huge risk for profit – despite all the publicity on tough Indonesian drug laws and an alert for Aussie smugglers both ways. They took a huge risk for profit and they lost.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2006