Bali arrest boy our No. 1 priority

 

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says the Australian government is working closely with Indonesian authorities to obtain the release of a 14-year-old Australian boy who was allegedly caught with drugs while on holiday in Bali. Mr Rudd said the boy from NSW was being held at police headquarters in Denpasar. "I have just spoken with our ambassador in Jakarta (Greg Moriarty) and I have indicated to him that his number one priority in the immediate period ahead is how we support this young boy and his family and do everything we can to obtain his early return to Australia," Mr Rudd told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. Advertisement: Story continues below He said the Consul and the Consul General were having "rolling" contact with the family and that his heart went out to the parents. "I think if you put yourself in the position of being a mum or a dad with a 14-year-old who's got themselves caught up in this situation, you're heart would go out to the parents." It is believed the boy was arrested on Tuesday in possession of a small amount of marijuana. He was allegedly caught with 6.9 grams gross of marijuana or 3.6 grams nett. Indonesian police sources have told AAP the boy is Lewis Alan Mason, from Morisset Park on the NSW Central Coast. Mason, who was on holidays with his parents and staying in the luxury resort area of Legian, was with a friend when he was arrested on Tuesday afternoon. It's alleged he bought the marijuana for the equivalent of $A25 after being approached by a dealer while on his way to get a massage in Kuta earlier in the afternoon. Police then detained him outside a supermarket after he left the place where he received the massage. If Mason is charged with possession, he would face a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison. However, his lawyer, Mohammad Rifan, told AAP he could be charged under provisions for juveniles, in which case the maximum penalty would only be six years. Mr Rudd said he would not go into the facts of the boy being held, but the government was working closely with the Indonesian authorities. Under Indonesian law, there is no juvenile court system, so if he is charged the boy is likely to be placed in an adult prison. He is the youngest Australian to be arrested in Indonesia. "Regrettably, we know the authorities in Denpasar too well through matters we have had to deal with over the years," Mr Rudd said. "I'm not going to be in the business of providing public lectures from abroad on the nature of anyone else's legal regime." His job was to try to get the boy home, he said. "We respect those laws and we will work very closely with our friends and colleagues in Jakarta and Denpasar." The arrest is the latest in a string of drug-related arrests of Australians in Bali in recent years. Graeme Michael Pollock, from Darwin, was arrested last month with a small amount of methamphetamine. He is also yet to be charged. A host of other Australians have been jailed for drug-related offences and are serving time in Bali's Kerobokan Prison, including the Bali Nine, the Gold Coast's Schapelle Corby and Sydney man Michael Sacatides. Two other Australians, Ricky Rawson from Victoria and Melbourne man Angus McCaskill, were released from jail earlier this year after serving time in Kerobokan.