The Australian Federal Police (AFP) are under the microscope for their “disgraceful” handling of sensitive cases.

For lawyer Robert Myers, the recent AFP raids on the ABC and a News Corp journalist brought back memories of the poor handling of the 2005 Bali Nine case.

His client, Scott Rush, was arrested in Indonesia and given a life sentence for attempting to traffic heroin out of the country after local authorities received a tip-off from the AFP.

But Mr Myers says federal police were forewarned of the drug smuggling plan by Scott’s own father, and had promised to intercept Scott at the airport before he left the country.

Instead, they passed the case onto Indonesian police, ensuring the group would either spend the rest of their lives in jail or, in some cases, receive the death penalty.

Mr Myers tells Alan Jones he’s always suspected the AFP used the case to try and curry favour with Indonesia, rather than protect their citizens.

“They’ve never given a satisfactory explanation.

“We’re entitled to rely upon the Federal Police as our police force.

“It’s disgraceful, Alan… they could’ve stopped them at the airport. They knew all about it.”

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