CANBERRA: A young Australian man has been sentenced to death and another is awaiting trial after being caught by Chinese authorities trying to smuggle methamphetamine from China to Australia.
Queensland man Ibrahim Jalloh and another Australian citizen, Bengali Sherrif, were arrested by the Chinese authorities at Guangzhou airport in June last year, but until now their plight has remained secret.
The ABC understands Sherrif was sentenced to death for attempting to traffic the drug, which is used to make ice, but this will be commuted to life in prison if his behaviour in prison is good for two years. Jalloh has apparently not been tried yet.
The two men are among a number of Australians arrested and held in China over drug-related crimes, but precise details about the prisoners are difficult to come by.
News of the arrests emerged in a Melbourne court last week during a committal hearing for three men charged over an alleged conspiracy to import drugs from China.
Melbourne man Wedi Bembo will be tried for the same offence, and also over an alleged heroin importation in 2013.
At the hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court, an Australian Federal Police officer gave evidence that the AFP were tipped off by Customs in December 2013 that two kilograms of heroin sent from India had been intercepted.
Federal Agent Sarah Brener said the AFP then began intercepting telephone calls, which eventually led them to a man described as “Sammy Africa”, who they alleged was actually Bembo.
