Cilacap--Two Australian drug smugglers were transferred Wednesday to an Indonesian island where they will be executed, as Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australia was "revolted" by their looming deaths after frantic diplomatic efforts to save them.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called "Bali Nine" drug smuggling gang, were woken and given a few minutes to get ready before leaving Bali's Kerobokan jail in the early hours, said local justice ministry official Nyoman Putra Surya.
The men, sentenced to death in 2006 for trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia, said "thank you" before leaving, and "we handcuffed them and they were quiet", he added.
Michael Chan attempted to see his brother Andrew before the transfer but prison officials denied him entry, with Surya saying the decision was taken because "today is not visiting day".
More than 200 police and soldiers as well as water cannon were stationed outside the Bali prison as the men, in their early 30s, were driven out through a scrum of journalists.
The pair were flown to Cilacap, on Java island, on a chartered flight accompanied by military aircraft.
Two armoured vehicles escorted by elite police then boarded a boat at the local port which crossed to Nusakambangan island, home to several high security prisons and where the pair will be executed, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
The men recently lost their appeals for presidential clemency, typically a death row convict's last chance to avoid the firing squad. Officials have yet to announce a date for their executions, but the transfer indicates it is imminent.
Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo said Wednesday that final preparations, such as training the firing squads, were still being made before a date could be set for execution of the Australians and several other drugs offenders.
Authorities must give convicts 72 hours notice before they are executed. Convicts from France, Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and Ghana also recently lost appeals for clemency, and speculation is mounting that they will be included in the next round of executions.
AFP
