Australian Teenager Charged Of Carrying Illegal Drugs Now Free

An Australian teenager has been set free from a holding cell in a police station at Kuta, Bali after Bali police confirmed that the white substance the teenager was caught with wasn't actually an illegal drug and they found no illegal drugs in his body. Jamie Murphy, 18, has been detained after suspected of carrying illegal drugs in a nightclub at Kuta, but the pack of white powder which was found inside his bag has appeared to be a combination of cough medicine, painkillers, and caffeine.

"We have tested the white powder, and it's not drugs," Daily Telegraph quoted Mr. Koesnadi, head of the police forensics laboratory at Denpasar, as saying. "It's a mix of at least four materials, including caffeine and analgesics," he added.

On Tuesday night, Nov. 22, Jamie Murphy was prevented from entering the premise of Skygarden nightclub in Bali, Indonesia. Inside his bag, the security of the nightclub allegedly discovered a pack of white powder, along with hotel keys and ATM card. The teenager was brought to a police station in Kuta where he was detained.

In the police station, police suspected the white powder as heroin or cocaine. However, the teenager kept on dying that the powder was his, revealing it was his friends. "It's not mine ... What are you doing? It is not mine," The Guardian quoted Murphy as saying in a video footage of his arrest.

To know the truth, police conducted an investigation. The white powder and the teen's blood and urine underwent a forensic test in a forensic laboratory at Denpasar. On Wednesday afternoon, the results of the laboratory tests of both the powder and the teen's blood and urine were released.

Mr. Koesnadi, head of the forensic laboratory, said that the white powder they've tested is not drugs. It is a mixture of two kinds of cough medicine, caffeine, and acetaminophen (pain killer). He also confirmed that the urine and blood tests of the teenager were negative as well.

After finding out the effects of the illegal drugs, the teenager was set free. Inspector General Sugeng Priyanto, head of police force in Bali, said as the laboratory tests have turned negative for illegal drugs, the teenager had not violated any law and must be released soon.