WEBVTT - Stabbed, bashed and raped in a Cambodian prison: Ian Muldoon Pt. 1 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.920 The public has had a long held fascination with detectives. 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:08.080 Detective sy aside of life, the average person is never 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:11.120 exposed her I spent thirty four years as a cop. 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.080 For twenty five of those years I was catching killers. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.239 That's what I did for a living. I was a 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:20.599 homicide detective. I'm no longer just interviewing bad guys. Instead, 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.160 I'm taking the public into the world in which I operated. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.439 The guests I talk to each week have amazing stories 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.800 from all sides of the law. The interviews are raw 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.479 and honest, just like the people I talked to. Some 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.680 of the content and language might be confronting. That's because 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.680 no one who comes into contact with crime is left unchanged. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:47.159 Join me now as I take you into this world today. 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.000 I had a conversation with Irane muldoon Eran's life was 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.199 pretty normal and so he went on a holiday to 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:57.920 Cambodia to clear his head following relationship issues. But what 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.800 occurred in the Cambodian bar in July twenty twenty three 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.440 changed his life in ways it's difficult to imagine. Ten 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.240 days after that night, he was detained at non Penn 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.679 Airport on his way home. That was the beginning of 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.920 a nine month nightmare which still haunts him to this day, 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.000 and spoke to me about the brutality of a third 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:22.040 world prison system lacking humanity and where life is cheap. 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.040 On his first night in prison, he saw a prisoner 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:27.679 gang raped, and that was just a precursor for what 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.360 was going to happen to him. He knows he was 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:34.240 lucky to survive. He was beaten countless times, stabbed and 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.840 gang raped on several occasions. This is a truly frightening 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.399 story about what can happen when you get caught up 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.680 in a prison system in a foreign country and you're 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.919 in a Cambodian prison for nine months for a relatively 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.680 minor offense that at its most extreme it was vandalism 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:56.240 of an ATM machine. You told me, during that nine 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:00.680 month period, you saw eleven people die in prison. You 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:06.000 saw rapes, bashings, you were stabbed in an environment like that. 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:08.120 Did you think you're going to survive? 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:13.600 No, not at all. No, every day you thought you 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.600 know it could be your day. Yeah, it was pretty horrific. 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.920 So you wake up there and how am I going 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:20.960 to get through the day? 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.959 And one day felt like a week or a month 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:26.280 it was so full on. 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:29.760 Is that something you've ever experienced before? Have you ever 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:34.600 been in prison or before? So this I'm just trying 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:36.840 to get a sense of it. Just the average fellow 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:40.639 that's gone on the holiday in Cambodia. Yeah, ended up 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:42.040 ended up in prison. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:42.919 Yeah. Yeah. 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:47.480 Basically did it change your view on humanity? 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:53.720 Yes? And what a great deal I saw things people 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:58.080 did to other people that were in Uveine, The amount 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:06.360 of cruelty I saw Barrick. Yeah, words can't really describe 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:15.840 how how you know totally those people had such disregard 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:20.000 for people's lives. Yeah, it was very confronting. 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.239 Okay. I don't normally give a content warning on the 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:27.280 podcast called Eye Catch Killers. I think people are pretty 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.120 well aware of the type of things we're going to discuss. 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.639 But in the conversations I've had with you, and when 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.520 you've told me about your experiences and what I've learnt 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:40.520 about your experiences, I think it's probably appropriate upfront that 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.320 I give a content warning here that what we're going 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:48.840 to be discussing is pretty heavy stuff. And what are 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.520 you hoping to achieve by coming on the podcast and 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:52.400 telling your story. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.880 I just want people to be aware that you know, 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.960 you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:03.720 and it can quickly spiral into something that you just 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:15.080 can't believe the amount of trauma it's caused me my family. Yeah. Yeah, 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:16.440 I want people to be aware they're going to be 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:22.920 very cautious about going to foreign countries, especially Southeast Asian 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:25.200 countries in particular Cambodia. 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.480 Okay, Well, I think when people hear what you've got 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.440 to say in your story, it's it's a wake up 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:33.919 call for all of us to a degree that we 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.320 take a lot of things for granted in this country. 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:38.599 We haven't got it perfect with the justice system, but 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:42.520 there is some justice that prevails. But you in the 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:47.400 foreign land, foreign rules, and yeah, what's the norm here? 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:49.320 Doesn't it doesn't apply over there? 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:54.440 No, I dare say it's a cake walk in comparison, 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:56.680 to be honest. 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.279 Yeah, Well, hearing what you've you've told, I'd have to 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:03.520 agree with you. Let's find out a little bit about 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.760 Muldoon the person before we take you over to Cambaitia. 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.960 Just describe yourself, how old are you and what was 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:12.840 your life before this? 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:18.360 Fifty one? Grew up in beautiful Manly, you know, lived 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:22.440 my life basically on the beach, surfing and hanging around 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.720 with my friends and having a good good time, you know, 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.960 and having grew up and went to a good school 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:33.159 and had a good education, worked in hospitality for a 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:37.120 while and worked in sales and marketing, and you know, 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:41.440 then decided to want to become a forklift driver. 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:42.840 We've all got dreams. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.880 Yeah, it's just you know, there was no stress there. 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.200 It's good times and that's what you're doing. That was 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:53.080 your occupation. When you say, people understand too. It was 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.280 in twenty twenty three that you went on your holiday 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:01.440 to Cambodia, but you were managing the fork driving or yeah. Yeah, 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.520 I was working in a warehouse and you know, truck 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.599 comes in, you loaded up, truck goes out. You know, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:08.760 it was pretty easy work and the money was good, 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.400 so it was good. You know, sales and marketing can 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.080 be stressful at times with your targets and things like that. 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:18.919 So it was just a good career change, you know. 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:23.480 Okay, I'm getting older and you were coming off the 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.520 back of a relationship as well. Yeah. 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:34.880 Yeah, my relationship kind of fell apart, and that's why 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.039 I went overseas just to try and give some space 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:42.000 between the two of us and maybe reconcile later on 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:43.680 down the track. Yeah. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.520 Well you told me that you were at that point 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:50.080 when you went overseas just a clear, clearly air on 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.560 the back of the relationship breaking down, but you had 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:58.000 hopes that it might rekindle some capacity. Yeah, and you 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.960 had had a child with that women, Yeah, I did. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:01.920 Yeah, young boy. 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.360 Okay, So we're getting a sense of it, and that's 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:10.000 the way i'd probably describe you living a typical average 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:14.120 life in Australia. Enjoy yourself. Yeah, had you had you 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:19.560 been in trouble with the law before, just briefly, Yeah, 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:20.640 what sort of stuff? 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:22.920 Childhood stuff, childhood stupidity. 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:27.840 We've all done that, I suppose have had you ever 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:32.480 done any time in prison or juvenile detention centers or whatever, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.520 So it all been in custody is something completely foreign 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.960 to Yeah, okay, I just wanted to establish that because 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.840 it's the world that you stepped into. Must have been 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.400 so confronting on that many different levels. So tell us 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.480 about the trip to Cambaity. What was the plan's dreams 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:52.840 and aspirations flying over the Camba there. 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.320 Well, I wasn't meant to go there I was meant 0:07:55.360 --> 0:08:00.800 to go vit Nam and my partners partner at the time, 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.640 she was in Bali and said she wasn't ready to, 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.360 you know, see me yet. And then you know, I 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.360 always wanted to go and see Ankle White and she's 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:13.520 said the same thing. When't you going to do that? 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:15.200 The temples in camp? Yeah? 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.960 Yeah, in San rep So I decided that, you know, 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:20.000 I'd changed my ticket. 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:22.320 Okay, that was a great decision. 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:23.559 Yeah, it was one of my best. 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.119 So how long was the holiday planned? For? 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:33.120 Sixteen? Eighteen days? I was therefore I had a thirty 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.240 day visa, but I was only there for eighteen. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.240 Days, okay, So, and I think it was on the 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:42.160 from memory tenth of July twenty twenty three, which was 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:47.080 two days into your trip. Yeah, yep, okay, And tell 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.920 me about what happened on the night the genesis of 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.920 what dictated the rest of your life, or at least 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.079 the next twelve months of your life. You went out 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:56.600 for a drink. 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:00.000 Yeah, well, it wasn't planning on going out for a drink. 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.440 It was just I went into a bar just literally 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:04.960 one hundred meters down from my hotel. Is this in 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.240 the capital city, Yeah, pen and I went down there 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:14.480 ordered a beer, and honestly, my first biggest mistake was 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:19.000 there was a cow bell there, and if you ring 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:22.280 the cowbell, you buy a beer for everybody in the 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:26.319 pubs are very cheap, but you know, so I was 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:29.880 happy to do that, but I think in doing that, 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:32.280 there's a couple of blokes there that have clocked me 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.800 going rich foreigner. And then I had one Jack Daniels 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.920 and coke. Second mistake was to leave that on the 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:43.520 table and go to the bathroom. I came back and 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.120 I had a few more SIPs out of that and 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:52.000 then basically got a really bad migraine headache, which and 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.120 I don't get migraines. I don't think I've ever had 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.680 any or one maybe you know, and then blurred vision. 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.760 I was unsteady on my feet. I went to pay 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:05.200 for the you know, the bar tab and because it'd 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:07.679 only just gotten there, I was still trying to negotiate 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:11.600 what moneys and what and American dollars and things into 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:16.000 Kmai reel and the owner she said, oh, you don't 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.800 have enough, but there's an ATM just down there, a 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:19.760 couple of doors down. 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:21.320 What time of night was that. 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:27.520 It's a while ago. Now, it's not that late, you know. Again, 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:31.200 just two drinks and then so I by the time 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.080 I walked down that to that atm, it was like 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:40.880 I'd been drinking all night. And then two guys followed 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.800 me out of the bar. I walked into the ATM 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:45.920 and I tried to put my card in about three 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.439 or four times, and by that stage I was so 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:54.720 incoherent and fell forward and with one hand protected my 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.439 face and the other hand just cracked the glass on 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:02.720 the ATM. And then walked out of there, and those 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.320 two fellas followed me to my hotel room, which was 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.880 literally another you know, fifty yards down the road or 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.400 fifty meters down the road. I walked in there and 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.000 they stopped, and then I got myself for I don't 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.040 know whether I got myself up to the room or 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:20.840 someone helped me up to the room, but I woke 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:25.600 up the next day very groggy, still unsteady on my feet, 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:28.080 you know, that bit of a brain fog. But I 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:32.160 still remembered something about the bar and owing money at 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:32.480 the bar. 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.680 You hadn't paid for the drinks, hadn't paid for the drinks. 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.920 Yeah, yeah, So I actually got money out of the safe, 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.560 walked past where the incident happened, the Smile mart there 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.800 and to the bar and paid the bar lady, and 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:49.760 then yeah, that was it. Nothing else was said. 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.640 Okay, so the smile mart you're talking about it, it's 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.560 like the convenience stores where they've got the ATM. Yeah, 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:58.160 that's like you see, I've got some fotos here that 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:02.640 I think were in the time of Times, the local paper, 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.240 and I'm just looking at it as a podcast, but 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.040 describing it. I can see on one of the shots 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.520 they've got the phatoh of you looking into the ATM machine, 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.520 and then they've got a picture of the damage to 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.679 the glass of the ATM. Yeah, and that's your sort 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.600 of recollection of what happened on the on the night 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:27.319 from the photose. Yeah, just obviously obviously. Yeah, and okay, 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.600 so what we're talking here is a damaged ATM machine, 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.679 And I just want to understand because yeah, what followed 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.840 on from this, trying to get a sense of the 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.840 actions that we're taking against you. You went back to 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:45.480 the bar the following day. Yep, you paid the money, 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.840 You've got money from the from the safe at your hotel, 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:52.640 and then then what did you do? 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.320 I just I spent another couple of days there and 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.280 then we I went up to bat and Bong and 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:02.560 then from Bat I spent five days in bat and Bong. 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.040 It's about six hours. Oh no, not that long. It's 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:10.360 about a three hour drive maybe just in a car 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.439 that picked me up from the hotel, and then from 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.480 there I got a boat ride up to soon Reap. 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.280 Okay, yeah, you just continued on your holiday. 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.880 Yeah yeah, there was no no, nothing said by the 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.000 owner of the bar, nothing said by the people who 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.840 owned the smile mart. There was nothing. 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.520 So did you have any thoughts at what happened that 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.280 the ATM machine was going to come back to buy it? 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:41.640 No, because I I initially I was just protecting myself 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.720 and then when hand hit, I didn't think anything of 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.080 it because I was that, you know, like like I 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:49.760 don't know, under duress, I guess. 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.880 Okay, so you've carried on your holidays. I think you 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:57.640 said another ten or thirteen days or something like that. 0:13:57.720 --> 0:13:58.640 Another ten days. 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.280 I think it was already had your flights pre booked, so' 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.120 on the flight that you're intending to your book with 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.960 your holidays. So you didn't change your flights or try 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:09.559 to flee the. 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:13.520 Country or no, no, no, not at all. They said 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.480 that though I was trying to flee the country. 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.160 But this was pre booked, yeah flights and the flight 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.080 that you were scheduled to recatch. 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:25.960 Yeah, back to Australia or back to Thailand first and Australia. 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.200 Okay, I'm probably I'm falling in the cop made here 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.240 and I'm just thinking, okay, well, there was no effort 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:37.360 to flee the crime scene. You're not trying to escape. No, okay. 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.120 You go to the airport at which airport was. 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.040 It, Well they've got a new one now, but it 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.160 was the International Airport. 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.720 At Sanri, Okay. And what happened there. 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.040 I put my luggage on that went onto the plane. 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.880 I walked through to customs and they handed over my 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.280 passport and then the customs agent said, oh, you've got 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:02.000 a black mark against you your name, a black flag. 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.320 And I was like, what do you mean. He's saying, oh, 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.160 we just have to wait here for a minute. From that, 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:14.000 I was escorted to the immigration office and they'd taken 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.520 my passport and I was sitting there not knowing what 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:20.080 was going on, you know, and there was all these 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:23.880 customs agents and immigration people in the room with me 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:29.640 and asking me all these questions. And then the only 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:34.280 time I've ever seen the footage from the Smile Mart 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.560 was one police officer there had it on his phone, 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.120 and then when that was meant to be brought up 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:44.080 in court, that had disappeared, and that clearly showed the 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.600 two guys on the outside, the two dark figures on 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.080 the outside of the Smile Mart. 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.680 Okay, so you're in there, when is that when you 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.360 realize what you were being detained for. Did you realize 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:57.160 it was to do with the ATM machine? 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:04.360 They said, yeah, that i'd I damaged the ATM machine. Yeah. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:08.040 And did you speak the local language? No, not at all, 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:10.640 So this was communicated to you by someone. 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.480 Yeah, there were in Pidgin English because I don't I 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.120 don't speak Kamai, you know. 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:19.760 So when did you When did you realize this was 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:23.000 something unusual? Did you have concerns you were going to 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:23.560 miss your flight? 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.120 Well, they said if I missed my flight, they pay 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.920 for another one. But then they told me that there 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.600 was four police officers driving up from a non pen 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.960 that's a six hour drive. And then when they start 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:42.360 taking photos of me, with a board behind me, with 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:48.600 all the drug busts and you know, cocaine and ecstasy 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.160 and things like that. I knew from then on in 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.440 it was going to be tough, tough for me. 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:57.440 Yeah, it wasn't going to be just easy to get 0:16:57.480 --> 0:16:57.960 you out of there. 0:16:58.000 --> 0:16:59.440 No, no, So. 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.000 What happened then? You put in? Were you put in 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.840 the custody or you are allowed to leave the police 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:06.960 station or no? 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:12.600 No? So they basically once once I was there, I 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.280 was asking for my passport back. I don't understand what's 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:21.119 going on. You know, I want to speak to this 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.399 train embassy. They wouldn't let me do that. They'd have 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:31.000 my phone, they'd taken everything from me. And then they 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.760 you know, they we waited and I just kept on 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:38.199 asking questions and they just kept on either saying they 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:43.960 don't understand, or wait for the police officers to come 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.040 from soon, sorry to fromm pen. 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.680 Okay, so you're sitting there, Are you in a cell? 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:54.160 No? No, I'm in the customs and the immigration office there, yeah, 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:55.240 in the Indie. 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.800 Airport at the airport. Yeah, what happened after that? 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:02.359 Okay? So then when the policeolice officers come, they handcuffed 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:08.320 me and saying that this case needs to be you 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:13.800 need to go back to Pen to do this case. Now. 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:21.040 I was handcuffed and led through a packed airport with 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:28.320 families and kids, with guys with machine guns, immigration officers, cups, 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:32.000 custom agents, you name it, like as if I was 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:38.680 some kind of drug baron or terrorists. And I could 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.520 see people pointing, going what's going on here, you know? 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.159 And they said to me, don't make a scene. And 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.200 then they put me into the full drive police car 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:55.920 and drove me back down to Pen to the police station. There. 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:57.120 Six hour drive. 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:00.560 Yeah, no food, no water and nothing. 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.520 Okay. This was on the twenty twenty. 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.040 Third of the same day I was flying out. 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:11.600 Okay, third of July two thousand and twenty three. You 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:14.960 get to the police station, what happened. 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:19.760 I'm just put in a cell straight away. Anytime I 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:26.879 requested to speak to Mike's partner, Austrain embassy, anybody, we 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.959 don't have internet connection or we don't understand what you're saying. 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.800 It was only the next day, I think, or or 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.080 the day after when then they drug tested me for 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:43.879 pretty much every drug which was a negative result. And 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:49.320 I was talking to the police captain there through a translator. 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:53.080 But he was getting me just like which happened many 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:58.200 times whilst being incarcerated. Over there forms that were written 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:01.280 in coom I where I and had to thumb print 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:05.240 in read ink and sign my name, not knowing what 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:06.359 I was signing whatsoever. 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:10.159 Right, you sent me some of those documents and I 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.320 went through them and I see that red thumb print. 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:18.119 That's what you're talking about. Okay, So you've been detained, 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.720 You've kept at the airport until the police come up 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.679 for me driving all the way up six hours and 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.680 you're driving back six hours, so we're looking at sort 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.440 of twenty four hours you're being in custody. Yeah, that's 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.880 right at that point in time, because and I think 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:38.520 and part of the basis of you coming on the podcast, 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:41.879 you wanted to warm people of the dangers of certain 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:46.000 situations you can find yourself in a foreign country. I 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:49.320 would assume that in Australian citizen the rest, you'd be 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.080 able to make a phone call and you'd be onder 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:54.560 the embassy straight away, or at least be able to 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:56.959 make a phone call home. But you weren't provided with that, 0:20:58.440 --> 0:20:59.040 not at all. 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:01.920 That was the scariest thing that. 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:04.800 You like you could just disappear one hundred percent. 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:07.800 That's my point. I was there for three days before 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:10.440 I got any contact with anyone outside. You know, if 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:12.000 I'd have died in that cell, I would have been 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:13.080 just buried somewhere. 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.040 It looks like, and I'm mainly basing this on the 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.720 fact that part of the research I did, I found 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:24.520 that newspaper article, and that newspaper article was published on 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:27.040 the twenty four to seven, so that's that's a day after. 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:29.159 So while you're in there, you haven't made any calls 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:32.359 to anyone that's in the paper with photos of you, 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.560 and the way they just described that, And I won't 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:38.000 read the whole article out, but it just finished off 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.720 with the suspect is currently being questioned by competent authorities 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:45.400 to proceed with the procedure. There might be a little 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:48.680 bit lost in translation there, but it looks like they're 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:52.639 skoeting about or promoting the fact that they've arrested you. 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:57.920 And then photos of the damaged atm the in the paper. Boy, 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.680 not not a good situation. And if I'm sitting here smiling, 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:07.040 it's just I'm thinking potentially could happen to anyone situation 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:07.679 like that. 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:09.840 I'm smiling too, but you either laugh with you cry 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.760 and I've done my crying. Yeah, it's it's that's yeah, 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:16.919 it's it's such a hard that that that's when you 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:18.639 know you're in trouble, you know. 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.840 So three days or three days in the police station, 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.200 you haven't spoken to anyone. What was the accommodation like food, 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:26.199 like cells, like. 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:32.320 Just a floor with bars around it, with a toilet, 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:38.040 no food, one bottle of water. I was I was 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.120 using a loaf of bread that they gave me, an 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.520 uncut loaf of bread as my pillow because I was 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:52.000 laying on like a floor that just rock hard floor. 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:57.760 And was anyone explaining what was going to happen to you? 0:22:57.800 --> 0:22:59.480 No, No, not at all. 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:03.440 Not at all, because I can only only imagine that 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:06.920 the frustration that being caught up in a situation like that, 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:10.280 and you'd feel I think, so helpless. 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:13.280 Yeah, powerless as well. Yeah, you just it's one of 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:20.679 those things. Yeah, you can't fathom, you know, because that 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:22.960 you know, And I found out later that some of 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:25.919 them could speak English in the police station, they just 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:34.359 chose not to, particularly one guy when he he knew 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:36.119