Indonesia plans to deploy more than a hundred police officers to help with the deportation of convicted Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby on Saturday, as Australian media mount round the clock stakeouts to catch a glimpse of her.
Corby, 39, from Brisbane, has been the focus of frenzied Australian media coverage since she was arrested 12 years ago, after arriving at Denpasar airport with 4.1 kilograms of marijuana hidden in a bodyboard bag.
For over a decade her piercing blue eyes have peered out from glossy magazines, newspapers, a book and TV shows, as her claims of innocence were dismissed by an Indonesian court that found her guilty and sentenced her to twenty years jail.
So high was the interest that the court's 2005 verdict was broadcast live in Australia. Her shocked reaction saw her beating her own head with her hands, while her sister and mother screamed at the packed court.
Defence lawyers for the then 27-year-old beautician had argued she had no knowledge of the marijuana and it must have been put there by airport baggage handlers, a claim that was never proven.
Corby's sentence was cut several times, and after nine years behind bars she was granted clemency by former President Yudhoyono. In 2014, she was released from prison to serve out the remainder of her sentence on parole in Bali, which comes to an end on Saturday.
Denpasar police spokesman Sugriwa told reporters a hundred police officers will provide security to ensure Corby reaches her plane on Saturday evening, safe from the pack of waiting media, the ABC reported.
She is expected to return to her Brisbane home on Sunday.
Indonesian police prepare two armoured vehicles during a security preparation for Schapelle Corby to return back to Australia, in Denpasar on Saturday.
