AUSTRALIA. GOVERNMENT BACKBENCHER TUCKEY FIRM ON DRUG-SMUGGLER

government backbencher Wilson Tuckey said an Australian drug-smuggler on death row should not be spared execution for his crime. Australian man Nguyen Tuong Van was due to be executed by the Singaporean government after being caught with 396g of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage at Singapore's Changi airport in 2002. Amid a bipartisan push to lobby the Singaporean government to reconsider the execution, Tuckey stood alone in saying that Nguyen should face hanging without Australian Government intervention.
"From a practical point of view, I can't see that people in the Singaporean government can have a situation where Aussies get off because of our close relationships with that government," Tuckey said. "Every drug baron in the world would say – as long as we use an Aussie to go through Singapore and we'll be okay."