SINGAPORE (AFP) - An Australian television reporter charged with drug trafficking in Singapore paid bail money and was released from prison on Wednesday, legal officials said.

Peter Lloyd, 41, met the court's conditions and found a local resident to provide 60,000 Singapore dollars (44,137 US) to secure his release, his lawyer, Tan Jee Ming, told court.

The New Delhi-based correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) was arrested in Singapore last week.

He seemed expressionless when he appeared in the Singapore courtroom wearing orange prison garb.

A court official confirmed later Wednesday that Lloyd was no longer in custody.

He was not immediately freed after the court hearing because paperwork for the bail was still being processed, John Cameron, the director of ABC News, told reporters outside court.

Lloyd is charged with trafficking about one gram (0.035 ounces) of methamphetamine to a Singaporean for 100 Singapore dollars (74 US) at a hotel early this month.

He also faces a second charge for allegedly being in possession of about one gram of the stimulant methamphetamine, also known as "ice", at a local hospital.

Lloyd, who was suffering from an eye infection, had been held in a medical facility at the Changi Prison complex, prison service enquiry officers said.

But his medical condition "appears to have cleared up," Cameron said.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith earlier Wednesday said Lloyd had also received consular assistance.

"We now simply await the normal judicial and legal processes to continue," the minister said on the sidelines of a meeting of regional officials in Singapore.

Smith said Lloyd's family was making plans to travel to the city-state.

"From Mr Lloyd's perspective, I hope that he is able to see his family as soon as possible," the minister said.

If convicted of the trafficking charge, Lloyd faces between five and 20 years' imprisonment and five to 15 strokes of the cane.

His case was to be heard again in court on Friday.

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