SCHAPELLE Corby and Christopher Packer share similar circumstances. They are both locked up in Bali, facing criminal charges.

Yesterday the pair – Corby on drugs charges and Packer on weapons charges – met at the Denpasar prosecutor's office where their individual cases were each handed from the police authority to the prosecutors who will handle their cases.

The pair were placed in a cell together at the prosecution office, where they shook hands and introduced themselves.

The handover of suspects and evidence means that their trials will begin soon, with Packer's trial expected to kick off this month.

The millionaire former sailor is accused of failing to declare six weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition he had on his boat to authorities when he entered the Indonesia.

Police raided his boat, a restored trading vessel, in November as he prepared to leave Indonesia on part of a round-the-world trip. They say they were acting on a tip-off.

Since then he has been in jail and his boat, the Lissa, has been detained in Bali's Benoa Harbour.

Yesterday Packer, 52, was brought from his jail cell at police headquarters to the prosecutor's office and he was then expected to be taken to new lodgings, at Kerobokan jail, which also houses the Bali bombers on death row.

Prosecutor Putu Indriati said she expected the trial to begin this month.

It also will not be long before 27-year-old Corby's case starts. She is accused of importing 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali – a crime she denies. She was arrested at Bali airport in October with the marijuana allegedly in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag inside her body board bag.

Yesterday her case also was transferred to prosecutors.