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Aussie media frenzy over return of drug trafficker from Indonesia

Indonesia plans to deploy more than a hundred police officers to help with the deportation of convicted Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby today, 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 4.1kg 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 Susilo Bambang 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 today.

Denpasar police spokesperson Sugriwa told reporters a hundred police officers will provide security to ensure Corby reaches her plane in the evening, safe from the pack of waiting media, the ABC reported.

She is expected to return to her Brisbane home tomorrow.

- dpa

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