New Zealand Accused Drug Mule Antony De Malmanche ‘Soaked’ In Sweat During Indonesian Arrest

Antony de Malmanche was ‘soaked wet’ with sweat when he was arrested in Bali in December, an airport official said. The 52-year-old Kiwi claimed he did not know his bag was implanted with drugs, but Ngurah Rai Airport customs officer Mario Leonard told the court that de Malmanche was looking suspicious upon entering Indonesia.

The Whanganui native was charged with carrying 1.7 kg of the Class A drug methamphetamine after he was arrested at the Denpasar International Airport in Bali. He flew from Hong Kong to supposedly meet his online girlfriend “Jessie.” However, he was told by her so-called personal assistant, an African man named Larry, to travel to Indonesia, where she was apparently staying.

De Malmanche claimed Larry bought a new bag for him when his own fell apart in Hong Kong. Larry was also the one who packed his bag. As instructed, the Kiwi flew to Indonesia in the hopes of finally meeting his girlfriend personally. He was arrested at the airport for carrying drugs in his luggage.

His lawyers argued that he was actually just a blind mule for an organised drug smuggling syndicate. De Malmanche was apparently unaware that he was carrying drugs in his bag when he was arrested. However, Leonard didn’t think that was the case.

When the New Zealander’s bag was X-rayed at the airport, officers thought that it appeared suspicious. He was told to wait until the other passengers had passed through before the officers opened the bag with his permission.

“We only found one black jacket and then the bag was already empty,” Leonard said in court on Tuesday, as quoted by the Australian Associated Press. “But when we had it X-rayed again, there was still this suspicious appearance, like a lump, while it was supposed to be empty because the jacket had been taken out.”

They brought de Malmanche and his bag inside a “checking room,” where they took out all of the bag’s contents as the owner looked on. They then found crystals inside a plastic bag wrapped with tape. The crystals tested positive for methamphetamine.

De Malmanche maintained he did not know what the package was, but Leonard believed he was acting suspicious at that time. “We can say that he was suspicious because the defendant’s jacket was soaked wet because of sweat,” Leonard explained that the Kiwi put his jacked into his bag during the X-ray checking. “In that cold airport, the defendant shouldn’t have been sweating like that.”

The defence is arguing that de Malmanche was a “trafficked person not a trafficker.” His legal defence team includes lawyers from New Zealand, UK and Indonesia, as well as human right experts.