editorial comment Oh well, too bad for Ms Corby.....

THE Australian Federal Police have been accused of failing to properly investigate allegations of drug trafficking at domestic airports because serving officers were involved.

The former head of operations for the AFP's internal investigations, Ray Cooper, said it was well known by the AFP that unwitting passengers were being used as "mules" to shift drugs between Australian domestic airports.

The claim, coupled with reports that Bali drug squad chief Bambang Sugiarto believed elements of the case against Schapelle Corby were incomplete, has shocked Ms Corby's legal team.

Ms Corby is facing life imprisonment on a charge of attempting to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia.

"It's a very important development, but maybe it's too late for this trial," said adviser Vasu Rasiah.

"The entire thing now is going into a different angle. We had AFP saying all the way 'we have no knowledge of drug trafficking in airports', and here is the guy saying they knew about it.

"If this guy had come forward from the beginning, we would have called him as a witness."

Mr Cooper said his investigations suggested some state and federal police were in league with the smugglers.

"It was well known amongst the federal police that this particular operation and strategy was being adopted by criminals," Mr Cooper told the Nine Network's Sunday program.

"(But) the leadership of the federal police was not capable or strong enough to conduct a thorough, honest and open investigation ... They wanted the world to believe they were the only police force in the world that didn't have corruption."

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