Australian Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran (L) are escorted by police
Australian Andrew Chan (R) and Myuran Sukumaran (L) are escorted by police as they arrive for their appeal hearing in Denpasar District Court in Indonesia's resort island of Bali September 21, 2010. They are members of a group known as the Bali Nine, arrested in April 2005 in Bali with 8.3 kg (18 lb) of heroin strapped to their bodies. Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death in 2006. They requested for a judicial review for their death sentence to be reduced to 20 years jail. REUTERS/Murdani Usman

Bali Nine drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were determined to be the leaders of the group in court, but the real mastermind is living the high life in Sydney after winning $5 million in the lottery. A new report claims police suspect the unnamed man was actually the key figure of the syndicate.

According to Sydney Morning Herald, even before the 2005 arrest of the nine Australians in Bali, the alleged mastermind has been previously suspected of drug trafficking and was the subject of police investigations. Instead of taking the rap for Bali Nine’s attempted drug smuggling, however, he his life has taken a turn for the better.

The man is reportedly now living the high life in Australia after a $5 million-lottery pay-out that he received about the time Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2006. Police believe that he stopped doing illegal activities after his lucky win.

Police intelligence reports state that the man was suspected of having high-level involvement in the syndicate that supplied the drugs the Bali Nine members attempted to smuggle to Australia. SMH adds that the syndicate likely have brought drugs to Australia before using Chan, Sukumaran and the other members of the group.

In 2005, the nine drug mules from Australia, dubbed the Bali Nine by the media, were found to have 8.3 kg of heroin in their possession. They were attempting to smuggle the drugs from Indonesia to Australia, but were intercepted by the Indonesian police, who were tipped off by the Australian Federal Police.

The AFP, concluding that Sukumaran and Chan only had mid- to low-level involvement in the trafficking and were part of a larger syndicate that imported heroin into Australia, wanted to catch the mastermind behind the crime. However, the police were unavailable to arrest the suppliers, organisers and financiers.

Now, Sukumaran and Chan are awaiting the completion of their death sentence. Indonesia’s Attorney-General HM Prasetyo announced that they would be executed before February ends after President Joko Widodo denied them clemency. The rest of the Bali Nine mules, on the other hand, are serving their long prison sentences in the country.

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