Myuran Sukumaran - Alleged Trafficking Conspiracy

Alleged Trafficking Conspiracy

Media reports based on the testimony of co-conspirator, Renae Lawrence, claim that she met Sukumaran, through Andrew Chan. Sukumaran and Chan both attended Homebush Boys High School. Sukumaran, from Auburn in Sydney's inner west, worked in the mail room at State Street Corporation, an American investment bank, and later the passport office in Sydney. Sometimes referred to in the media as a "martial arts expert" or "the enforcer", Sukumaran trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

In an interview broadcast on SBS TV's Dateline following his sentencing and appeal, Sukumaran said:

Well, basically a friend of mine that I went to uni with asked me to come to a dinner and asked me if I wanted to join a gang. I sort of laughed at that. I was never involved in this in high school, yeah. I was, like, yeah, I'll come to dinner, sitting around dinner, they were talking about all this type of stuff. It was kind of funny to me, like, they pay for dinner and the nightclub afterwards and stuff like that so I was like "Yeah"........ it's just the lifestyle, all the people that were living, you know you want to be like those people, get the girls like those people, and I was hoping to buy a car, hoping to start a business. Those are the sort of the things like I didn't see, like, myself working in the mail room for the next 50 years of my life. I thought "No, I can't do this", then you see all these people like in night clubs with nice BMWs, and nice Mercedes and there's always chicks there, and they was buying drinks for everyone and you think "Fuck", how do you do this on a mail room salary.

According to Lawrence, following earlier alleged threats from Chan, on 5 April 2005 Sukumaran met with Si Yi Chen, Martin Stephens, and Lawrence at a Sydney hotel where police allege drug smuggling tools such as sealable plastic bags, medical tape, elastic waist bands and skin tight bike shorts were stuffed into the bags of Stephens and Lawrence. Lawrence claimed she was given cash; whilst Stephens claimed that his life was threatened. The following day, Sukumaran allegedly provided another group with cash for airflight tickets.

On arrival in Bali, Sukumaran checked into the Hard Rock Hotel, where Chan had already arrived. Other members of the Bali were staying at other hotels across Kuta. It is unclear what Sukumaran's movements were whilst in Bali. In the evening of Sunday 17 April, appearing like tourists, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Chen and Matthew Norman checked into the Melasti Hotel. Sukumaran, who was also with them, with his bags, left the bags with the others as he decided to go back to the Hard Rock Hotel complex.