"There is very little intelligence to suggest that baggage handlers are using innocent people to traffic heroin or other drugs between states"
The Law Council of Australia's condemned Keelty's clearly damaging and false pre-verdict comments as follows:
Even following this, however, Keelty remained defiant, apparently claiming that he was in some way defending the AFP:
This was not his first internal denial of the position:
The AFP's self interest, regarding their culpability, vis-à-vis their failings and role with respect to the systemic corruption and criminality at Sydney Airport, was a common theme:
The full impact upon Schapelle Corby's position at the Bali trial, of Australia's top policeman making such hostile and directly negative comments, can only be speculated. However, as documented elsewhere in The Expendable Project, this was far from his only unhelpful contribution.
CONTEMPORARY REACTION TO KEELTY'S FALSE STATEMENT
Reaction to Keelty's statement came from a variety of sources, with many referring to the direct contradiction to what was already known at the time. The following are illustrative of the responses of analysts and opposition politicians (images courtesy of TN15):
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