David Edward John Campbell,53,has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to import and conspiring to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug. Co-accused Tristan Egon Sebastian Waters,39,has pleaded guilty to the possession conspiracy charge but not guilty to the importation conspiracy charge. The two men are on trial in the District Court in Sydney.
Tristan Waters (left) and David Campbell are on trial in the NSW District Court for their alleged roles in a cocaine shipment from China.Supplied
In his opening address to the jury on Monday,Crown prosecutor Sean Flood said Border Force officers examined a shipping container from Shanghai on April 1,2017 and found 2500 blocks totalling approximately 1.28 tonnes of impure cocaine concealed within prefabricated steel.
Flood said the importer of the container was identified on shipping documents as Solutions 4 Steel,and Campbell described himself in emails as the company’s managing director and chief executive.
Campbell allegedly arranged for the container to be delivered to an address in Llandilo,in western Sydney,hired a truck and forklift,and bought a secondhand van for $16,000 after asking if it could carry about 1.2 tonnes.
The prosecutor said the Australian Federal Police pretended the container of cocaine-filled steel had been lost. Campbell was allegedly heard on an intercepted phone call telling a cargo company worker,“It’s going to f---ing cost me a bomb with this client because I told him that it was here”.
On October 24,2017,an undercover New Zealand police officer using the name “Henry” contacted the cargo company and pretended that he had found the container. Campbell was allegedly heard on a call to the cargo worker asking,“Has he opened it? Has he touched the steel? He shouldn’t have f---ing touched it,mate”,and later telling “Henry”,“The client would love to get that steel back”.
Campbell is alleged to have been the contact person for the delivery of the container and chased its location once notified it had been “lost”,while Waters is alleged to have been “one of three people who decided together to import the cocaine into Australia”.
The court heard Campbell flew to Auckland for a meeting with “Henry”,and another undercover AFP officer using the name “Ivan”,and was asked for a finder’s fee of $NZD3 million ($2.8 million) in cash.
After a failed handover of money in Australia,an arrangement was made to meet in Serbia.
The prosecutor said Waters,who had been based in Dubai,checked into Metropol Palace Hotel in Belgrade in January 2018.
He said Waters met with “Ivan”,who had requested a suitcase of €630,000 ($1 million) be brought to the meeting before he shared the location of the drugs,while Campbell was “outside keeping watch”. The men allegedly discussed how the remaining $2 million would be handed over in Perth.
The prosecutor anticipated “Ivan” would give evidence that Waters showed him a photograph “of what looked to be Australian currency placed on top of a bed”.
Flood said Waters was recorded saying “we want you to have your money,we want the stock back,we don’t want any more dramas” and “you could’ve f---ed off,we could’ve never heard from you again,we could all be dead by now”. Waters allegedly added:“Everyone thought we all robbed each other”.
Serbian authorities entered the hotel,detained Waters and Campbell and seized the cash.
Opening Campbell’s case,defence barrister Ronald Driels said his client “never agreed with anybody else” to import cocaine with an apparent street value of $1.5 billion.
He said the container had missed its first boat and claimed the evidence would show “somebody got at it before it got on the ship”.
Driels said Campbell would be relying on a “defence of duress” to the possession charge,and his client had acted under pressure “implemented by the AFP” who had “set up an international lie”.
Waters’ barrister David Dalton,SC,said his client had accepted responsibility for the possession charge because,despite being “under duress” and “in fear”,he didn’t attempt to go to the police. He said Waters was expecting to receive a significant penalty for that offence.
Dalton said there was no surveillance evidence involving Waters at all in 2017,he was “not a principal” and had played a part “pretending to be someone that he wasn’t” at the meeting in Serbia.
The jury has been given iPad-like electronic jury books to display the voluminous documentary evidence. The trial continues before Judge Phillip Mahony.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights..