Australian Michael Sacatides has returned home after being released from Indonesia’s Denpasar Immigration Detention Centre and deported from Bali following his release from prison.
Mr Sacatides, 59, flew back to Australia on Friday night, 4 September, after authorities cleared him to leave Indonesia.
He was arrested at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport in October 2010 after customs officers found about 1.7kg of methamphetamine concealed in the lining of his suitcase.
A Denpasar court convicted him of importing the drugs and sentenced him to 18 years in prison in April 2011. The sentence was two years longer than the term sought by prosecutors.
Mr Sacatides, a former kickboxing instructor from Sydney’s west, maintained throughout the case that he did not know the drugs were in the suitcase, which he said he had borrowed from an acquaintance in Bangkok.
He was later transferred between Indonesian prisons during his sentence, including amid security concerns linked to volcanic activity in Bali. Following his release, he was held by immigration officials before being returned to Australia.
