Nola Blake - Arrest

Arrest

Blake was arrested on 23 January, 1987 outside a department store opposite Lumphini Park along with her de facto husband Paul Hudson. With them was their baby son Todd Paul John. 4.47 kilograms of heroin was hidden inside the pillow in her son's push chair. The couple and their child spent the first night after the arrest together with other prisoners in a police cell. The child went into the care of the Australian embassy the following day. Police had been monitoring the pair and saw them pass US$49,000 to a Thai national and accept eight packets which they stuffed into the pillow in the stroller. The heroin was said by police to be of "the lowest grade of purity". An officer also claimed that the presence of the child and push chair increased their suspicions as a French film showing in Bangkok at that time, Three Men and a Cradle, had involved drug smugglers hiding heroin in a baby's nappy for a drop. The Thai man, massage parlour operator Supoj Kittidejdamkern, was arrested as he drove away after the meeting. Police followed Blake and Hudson some distance before arresting them. Police said Blake and Hudson had made ten visits to Thailand in the previous seven years.

Blake and Hudson said the multiple trips to Thailand were funded by her work as a school teacher, and Hudson's work as a fencing contractor which earned an average of $1,500 a week. Shortly before the arrest Hudson had also received a $58,000 compensation payment from a car accident. Blake and Hudson reportedly were drug addicts and heavy users of heroin. It was speculated that they were medium level drug dealers supplying heroin in small quantities to distributors to deliver around Sydney, that they received about $40,000 for each trip to Bangkok, and that Blake was the brains behind the operation. They came to the attention of Thai police after making contact with major players in Bangkok drug rings.

Hudson, a 37-year-old Sydney carpenter, described himself as a drug addict who had previously been arrested and jailed in Indonesia on heroin possession charges. One news report quoted a quantity of 8 kg of heroin. Hudson said that he hadn't bought 8 kg, that "I only wanted a little bit", and that it was for personal use. Hudson says he initially admitted to buying the drugs and implicated the Thai national because he had been told by police that Blake and their son would then be freed. "I was trying to get the wife and baby out, but now all bets are off. I will deny everything I have signed and start from scratch." Hudson said that he and Blake had visited Thailand seven times in ten years - not 10 times in seven years as police had claimed. He denied being a heroin addict and denied ever being convicted of drug trafficking. He admitted he had previously used heroin and had been previously "busted" for possessing drugs. He denied planning to import the drugs to Australia and said that importation of 8 kg was impossible. "Anyway, whenever we arrive at Sydney Airport they search us. They have sometimes kept us for three or four hours. I've even been searched internally and have been taken to hospital for ultrasounds."

Their son was kept with Blake and Hudson at Bangkok's downtown Bangrak police station at their request. It was not until 24 hours later that agreement was reached to hand him over to Australia's consular officer Graham Colless. Blake told her lawyers she wanted the baby back with her in prison, something not permitted under Thai law. Their son was aged 14 months at the time of his parents' arrest. He was sent to live with Blake's mother in Sydney, where her two other sons from a previous marriage also lived.

Blake and Hudson were charged with possession of illegal drugs with intent to sell.