Infamous Bali Nine group members reunite families after serving nearly two decades in an Indonesian prison.
According to CNN, the five remaining Australian members of the criminal gang returned to their homes on Sunday, December 1, 2024, ending their two decades of imprisonment.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the return of citizens and wrote on X on Sunday, “I am pleased to confirm that Australian citizens Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, and Martin Stephens have returned to Australia this afternoon.
However, the five men and their families stated that they were “immensely grateful” to the Indonesian president and his government.
The statement read, “The five men are relieved and happy to be back in Australia. They look forward, in time, to reintegrating back into and contributing to society.”
Moreover, nine people, eight men and a woman, of the group were caught back in 2005 while trying to smuggle 8 kilograms of heroin strapped to their bodies from Bali to Australia.
The Bali Nine case got global attention when two ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015, which caused tension between Indonesia and Australia.
Most of the group members were sentenced to 20 years or life imprisonment. One member, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer in prison in 2018, while the only female member, Renae Lawrence, returned home the same year after her sentence was commuted. She spent almost 13 years in prison.
The remaining five members who were released after a deal between Indonesia and Australia will now begin a voluntary "rehabilitation process" in their home country and are banned from returning to Indonesia.
