Coke boat accused denied bail

A MAN accused of driving a boat from which almost 600kg of cocaine was allegedly dumped off the coast of northern NSW will apply for bail in the Supreme Court.

Anthony Draper, 54, was denied bail in the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday.

Defence lawyer Chris Hannay, of Hannay Lawyers, confirmed outside of court that Draper, who has no previous criminal history, would take his bail application to the higher court.

Draper and co-accused Dru Anthony Baggaley, 36, are charged with one count each of possession of commercial quantities of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs or plants. Baggaley, 36, did not apply for bail during his brief appearance.

It is alleged they were seen about 40 nautical miles off Brunswick Heads throwing packages overboard, which were recovered and allegedly contained 578kg of cocaine.

During Draper’s bail application, Magistrate Donald MacKenzie was shown a photograph of the driver of the boat taken by the Australian Defence Force prior to the raid last week.

“I have ... observed Mr Draper and there are strong similarities between the person in the photo and Mr Draper,” Mr MacKenzie said.

Baggaley’s application will be heard on August 17.

Draper’s matter will next go before the court on August 20.