Olympic star caught up in cocaine probe
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OLYMPIC kayaker Nathan Baggaley is under investigation over allegations he played a role in a suspected international cocaine ring which picked up $176 million worth of the drugs off the northern NSW coast, a court has been told.
The Olympic silver medallist is on their radar after his younger brother Dru Anthony Baggaley, 36, was busted with 608kg of cocaine in his glorified dinghy off the coast on July 31, according to an officer from a joint federal and state police taskforce.
Detective Senior Constable Joseph Toohey has told the Brisbane Supreme Court, in Dru Baggaley’s failed bail application, that the bust was “one of the largest reported imports of ... cocaine into Australia” and he was the “principal” in a “trans-national crime syndicate”.
Dru Baggaley, a fishmonger of Coolangatta, has been charged with possessing a commercial quantity of drugs and drug importation.
The court was told he already has a “serious drug-related criminal history” and could face life in prison if convicted. He was arrested with Anthony Draper, 53, from the Sydney suburb of Balgowlah, after they tried to outrun a Royal Australian Navy patrol boat in their glorified dinghy nearly 100 nautical miles east of Byron Bay on July 31.
“The police investigation is still continuing in Australia. Police have identified additional potential members of the syndicate in Australia, including the applicant’s brother, Nathan Baggaley,” Sen Const Toohey told the court.
Extraordinary pictures of the men in the boat were tendered to the court. They are yet to enter pleas.
Dru said it was tobacco and not cocaine, adding that he did not know the identity of others in the drug ring.
Police allege Dru and Draper left Brunswick Heads boat ramp at 11pm on July 30, and sailed for 11 hours before they rendezvoused with a 55m “mother” ship.
The ship’s crew, who did not speak English, threw about 30 packages in the water and Dru and Draper picked them up, police allege.
Draper allegedly told police that three hours later a RAN patrol boat saw them and tried to board, but he “panicked and accelerated” the boat. While Draper steered at high speed, Dru is alleged to have thrown “the packages in the ocean”, the court was told. The pair thought they had escaped when the patrol boat stopped chasing them to pick up the 30 packages, the court heard.
But four hours later a Queensland water police boat intercepted them and they were arrested.