An n dad who is facing life in a Bali prison for alleged methamphetamine possession allegedly tried to flee police but was caught after warning shots were fired.
Details of the arrest of Troy Smith and his new wife Tracy Ijusa emerged at court on Monday.
The couple were holidaying when Indonesian police raided their room at the Champlung Mas Hotel in Legian, on the island’s south, on April 30.
They allegedly found 3.14g of methamphetamine concealed in a Colgate toothpaste tube that had been sent to Smith from Cairns, in a package that was labelled as containing private paperwork, photos and lubricant.
Police allegedly found a further 0.4g of the drug that had been bought in Bali, along with a bong and a lighter.
Outside court on Monday, Smith’s lawyer Sienny Karmana said his client tried to evade arrest ‘because he was scared’, with police firing two warning shots into the air before he was detained.
‘Police said that he tried to run away, but police got him back. They fired shots into the air, he was surprised and then he fell down and then police got him,’ she said.
n dad Troy Smith (pictured with his wife, Tracy) has been charged with drug possession in Bali
Indonesian police allege they found crystal meth in Troy Smith’s four-star beach resort hotel room in Bali (pictured with his wife, right)
Smith initially was thought to have been facing a maximum penalty of 12 years in jail for possession, but his lawyers have revealed he has also been charged with drug trafficking, which carries a maximum life sentence and a fine of $944,860.
Ms Ijusa tried to visit Smith in custody on Monday but she was turned away by authorities. She refused to ask local reporters’ questions about whether she knew about her husband’s addiction.
Smith’s lawyers allege the drug package was sent him from a friend as thanks for helping with the purchase of a car, and Smith did not know what it contained when he received it.
Smith had been expected to spell this out at a police press conference on Monday but Ms Karmana told reporters her client would not front the media because he was ‘mentally not that good’.
Smith will remain in custody at Bali police headquarters until his matter is mentioned in court.
Once police and prosecutors have the brief of evidence ready for court, it is likely Smith will be sent to Kerobokan Penitentiary Centre – a facility with a history of violence, riots, and gangs.
n members of the Bali Nine bombers were sent to the prison, along with Queensland woman Schapelle Corby who spent nine years there after marijuana was found in her boogie board bag.
Pictured: Tracy Injus in Bali on Monday, who tried to visit her husband Troy Smith in police custody but was turned away
Troy Smith married Tracy Ijusa in Kenya in December. He proposed to her in October
Pictured: Police outside Kerobokan Penitentiary Centre, where Troy Smith could be sent
Another of Smith’s lawyers, Ida Bagus Gumilang Galih Sakti, said the n man had struggled with drug addiction for four years and was hoping to get him sent to a rehabilitation facility, rather than to a jail.
If the rehabilitation option is granted, he could avoid Kerobokan prison altogether.
‘I heard from Troy… that this was a present, because the sender knew that he was a user,’ Mr Sakti said.
Mr Sakti said that Smith was ‘very depressed and sorry’ about the situation.
‘When people get caught by police in another country, they will sulk… and he’s quite depressed at the moment,’ Mr Sakti said.
Smith was originally from Port Lincoln in South but appears to have moved to Cairns within the past two years.
He proposed to Ms Ijusa in October last year and they tied the knot in January.
She was also arrested after the hotel room raid but was released without charge, and has remained in Bali to support her husband.
It is understood Smith’s relatives flew to Bali last week.
INSIDE BALI’S FEARED KEROBOKAN PRISON
The prison was built to house 300 inmates but, as of 2017, it had more than 1,400 male and female inmates of different nationalities.
It has has previously been described by inmates as a ‘hellhole’ with frequent ‘murders, rapes, drug overdoses and bashings’.
Announcements and sirens on loudspeakers scream every day and inmates are constantly vying for space in the crowded cells.
More than 90 per cent of the prisoners are Indonesian and 78 per cent were convicted on drug charges. 15,000 rupiah ($1.08) per day is allocated for each prisoner.
Pictured: Inmates at Kerobokan Penitentiary in Bali