The senior Australian Federal Police officer behind the decision to share information on the Bali Nine with Indonesian authorities has agonised over the move for a decade, knowing full well they could be executed.
In the wake of the executions last week of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the AFP on Monday faced fresh scrutiny over its role in the 2005 arrests of the ringleaders and their fellow drug smugglers.
Deputy commissioner Mike Phelan, the most senior AFP officer involved in the decision to give information to Indonesian authorities, has stood by his decision, pointing to the "misery that drugs causes to tens of thousands of families in this country".
"If anybody thinks that over the last 10 years, I haven't agonised over this decision, then they don't know me," Mr Phelan told reporters in Canberra.
"Yes, I knew full well by handing over the information and requesting surveillance, if they found them in possession of drugs they'd take action and expose them to the death penalty. I knew that.
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"But I weighed up a number of things in my mind as to what I thought was appropriate.
"And every time I look back, I still think it's a difficult decision.
"But given what I knew at that particular time and what our officers knew, I would take a lot of convincing to make a different decision. It was not easy."
The AFP began its investigation into the Bali Nine in early February 2005, at which point it identified three people of interest, including Andrew Chan, Renae Lawrence and Matthew Norman. At the time, the AFP were completely unaware of Sukumaran's involvement.
Brisbane-based lawyer Bob Myers, a friend of the father of Bali Nine member Scott Rush, reached out to the AFP on April 7 in a bid to stop Rush leaving Australia for Bali.
On April 8, the day Rush flew to Bali, the AFP sent a letter to counterparts in Indonesia providing details about the heroin smuggling plot and advising Indonesian authorities to "take what action they deem appropriate".
Mr Phelan said the Rush family were never given any assurances Rush would be prevented from leaving Australia.
"The important point to make here is that if Scott Rush's father or his lawyer acting on his behalf had never made contact with the AFP, we would still be in exactly the same position we are today," he said.
"It made absolutely no difference."
In the past three years, the AFP had received more than 250 requests in relation to matters that may involve the death penalty, of which 15 were rejected.
