Australian journalist charged in Singapore with drug trafficking

0 Comments | Asian Political News, July 21, 2008

SINGAPORE, July 18 Kyodo

An Australian broadcast journalist has been charged in Singapore with drug trafficking and possession, for which he faces up to 20 years in jail and five to 15 strokes of the cane if convicted, Singapore officials said Friday.

Peter Lloyd, 41, the Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s chief South Asia correspondent, was arrested in Singapore while on leave from his posting in New Delhi, the ABC confirmed.

Lloyd 'has been charged for trafficking and possession of methamphetamine,'' Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau said in a brief statement. He has been offered bail and is due to appear in court on July 25, it said.

The bureau said in a more detailed statement issued the previous day that its officers on Wednesday arrested a Singaporean man with 0.6 grams of ''ice,'' as methamphetamine is known, and further investigations revealed his supplier to be a 41-year-old Australian national, who it did not name.

The Australian was subsequently arrested and found to be in possession of 0.8 grams of Ice, an improvised smoking pipe and six syringes, it said, adding that his urine was screened positive for amphetamines.

The Singapore Straits Times reported that Lloyd is said to have given a packet of methamphetamine to the Singaporean in return for

$100 at a hotel on July 9.

It said the charges were read to him in Changi General Hospital, where he is reportedly being treated for an eye infection.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith confirmed Lloyd's arrest to reporters in Sydney and said Australian consular officials have been given access to him.

Smith, who will be traveling to Singapore next week to attend meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said he would use the occasion to ''speak personally with the (Australian) High Commissioner and his officers to continue to satisfy myself that anything that we can do for Mr. Lloyd and his family is being done.''

''This is another reminder to any Australian who travels overseas that they must conduct themselves in accordance with the laws of a country they visit,'' Smith said.

''Very many countries, both in our region and generally, have very, very strong punishments and penalties when it comes to drug offences,'' he noted.

An ABC spokesman said the news organization is ''currently are seeking further information and are in contact with consular officials in Singapore.''

The ABC said it is in close contact with Australian consular officials and is also taking steps to ensure Lloyd is given appropriate legal representation.

According to the ABC, Lloyd joined the news organization in 1988, working in the Sydney television newsroom for three years before moving to Britain to work for the BBC and British Sky News.

He returned to Australia and spent a decade in commercial television before returning to the ABC in 2000 and taking up a senior reporting role with television news and later with the national radio current affairs programs AM, The World Today and PM.

Lloyd was appointed South Asia correspondent in 2002. He is due to co-host a new breakfast show on ABC2 television from later this year.