A 14-year-old Australian schoolboy is in custody in Bali accused of drug possession after being picked up by plain-clothes police in Kuta.
According to reports in The Age, intelligence officers, who had been waiting for hours, were apparently tipped off that the boy, from New South Wales, had allegedly bought drugs.
The schoolboy is with his parents in a room at a Denpasar police station, along with a lawyer who has demanded that urine and blood tests be retaken, together with the boy’s police statement, citing irregularities with the initial investigation.
Australia’s ambassador to Indonesia has hurried to Bali to offer assistance.
According to reports, the teenager will remain in detention for up to a month while police continue their enquiries but, if his case is brought to trial, he could face a prison term in the notorious Kerobokan prison.
