The recent Schapelle Corby case has highlighted how different proceedures are in different countries. Here in Bali the Bali Nine, people facing a possible death sentence, are allowed to go shopping while in the US they would need handcuffs just to appear in court. A BBC article highlights a very strange situation in India where a 5 year old became a policeman! When you step off a plane in some of these countries it just aint like home. What makes no sense to us makes perfect sense to them.
A late afternoon stroll down to Kuta Beach saw me walk past a little knot of local guys sitting opposite The Wave, that new fancy joint at Pantai Kuta. As I passed, one of them said, Hashish, marijuana?. About 20 meters away standing at the entrance to Kuta Beach were 2 cops in full uniform. Please do not tell me they are unaware of what is going on. All the smack you hear in the press about War On Drugs, really has to be taken for what its worth.
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{ 8 comments }
hey Nick i encounter the same situation too in the same place.. just opp. The Wave .. with 2 cops in full U .. haha it’s really funny eh ..
Fauzi, Yes unfortunately its a joke. Drug dealers selling in front of the cops and them not doing anything. At best its entrapment, at worst its conspiracy.
This sounds to me like the perfect set-up. The unwitting tourist agrees to buy, the cops move in, the “dealer” gets his commission and the cops get the on-the-spot “fine”.
G’Day Nick,
I can remember yonks ago when, if you needed it, you had to go searching for dope!. Now, it’s constantly in your face.
I like the Freudian slip in your post – ‘All the smack you hear in the press…’
Rex, I agree, except it wouldn’t be an ‘on the spot fine’, it would be off to the police station for a very big (as in tens of thousands of dollars) fine.
Nick,
Too true. What hypocritical garbage these people are. I have been there numrous times and we are always stopped for some “infringement” by police on the way from Singaraja to the south near Denpasar, that is just a flagrant extorting of rupiah (usiually 5,000 to 10,000 doesthe trick). Bali is a haven for local petty criminals, drug dealers and corrupt officials. I’m not going back, which is waht all “whiteys” should do. Now they are urine testing in the discos when the drugs are everywhere in the street, monkeys !!
Nick,
Too true. What hypocritical garbage these people are. I have been there numrous times and we are always stopped for some “infringement” by police on the way from Singaraja to the south near Denpasar, that is just a flagrant extorting of rupiah (usiually 5,000 to 10,000 doesthe trick). Bali is a haven for local petty criminals, drug dealers and corrupt officials. I’m not going back, which is waht all “whiteys” should do. Now they are urine testing in the discos when the drugs are everywhere in the street, monkeys !!
Nick, you just realise that now?
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