Sacatides victim of drug ring, court told

An Australian man allegedly caught entering Bali with a large amount of the party
drug ice concealed in his luggage has employed a defence similar to that used by
convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.
Michael Sacatides, 43, a kickboxing instructor who has been living in Thailand, was
arrested at Bali's international airport on October 1 when customs officers found
1.7 kilograms of methamphetamine in a compartment in his suitcase.
Sacatides, who could face the death penalty if convicted, has denied that the drugs,
worth an estimated $A390,000, belong to him.
The Sydney man's lawyer, Erwin Siregar, on Wednesday asked for the charges against
Sacatides to be dropped, telling the court that he was the unwitting victim of a
drug ring.
A similar defence was used by Corby, who is now serving 20 years for smuggling more
than 4kg of marijuana into Bali in 2004. She was also represented by Siregar, who is
being funded by Australian Legal Aid.
"The defendant's position is more ... victim of a drug syndicate, not as the real
perpetrator, as been accused by the prosecutor," Siregar said on Wednesday.
Sacatides told investigators at the time of his arrest that he had borrowed the
suitcase from an Indian associate, Akaleshi Tripathi, whom he knew from Bangkok
where he had been living.
"The prosecutor's indictment has gone blurry and premature as the prosecutor was not
careful enough in describing the events and mistakenly placed the defendant as
someone who's suspected as perpetrator without further explanation on Akaleshi
Tripathi's, alias Peter's, whereabouts or involvement," Siregar said.
He said authorities had been provided with an address for Tripathi in Bangkok but
had failed to investigate the matter further.
Sacatides watched on intently during the proceedings before making a personal plea
via a translator, asking for the court to dismiss the charges.
Three other Australians - Scott Rush, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran -are on death
row in Bali's Kerobokan Prison over a 2005 attempt to smuggle more than 8kg of
heroin from Bali to Australia.
Another six members of the so-called Bali Nine are serving sentences of between 20
years and life in prison over the plot.
The trial of Sacatides resumes on January 11.