2004: From Family Holiday to Front-Page News: the Arrest of Schapelle Corby in Bali
Schapelle Corby was flying from Brisbane via Sydney to Bali for a family holiday when customs officers at Denpasar airport opened her unlocked bodyboard bag and found 4.2 kilograms of cannabis sealed inside a vacuum-packed bag. The amount alone, under Indonesian law, carried the weight of a major trafficking charge rather than simple possession.
Corby insisted from the moment of her arrest that she had no idea the drugs were there, a claim she would repeat throughout a trial that drew intense media coverage back in Australia. The case became one of the most closely watched Australian legal dramas of the decade, dividing public opinion over whether she was a trafficker or a victim of baggage handlers exploiting an unlocked bag.
