Kingpin accused over $683m drug plot fails in bail bid
A man accused of being a cocaine trafficking kingpin using the name Wanted in encrypted messages was merely an associate playing a "dog's body" role, a court has been told.
Daniel Wayne John Roberts is accused of being a ringleader behind the importation of almost two tonnes of cocaine with an estimated street value of $683 million.
The 27-year-old's application for bail was refused in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday after Justice Thomas Bradley found it impossible to make a reliable assessment of the strength of the crown case.
Roberts is accused of being the Australian head of a transnational organised crime organisation, using the name of notorious American gangster John Dillinger and "Wanted" in encrypted messages.
He was arrested in April and charged with 19 drug, weapons and violence-related offences.
One alleged plot involved the attempted importation of 900kg of cocaine off Queensland's Moreton Island in November 2023.
The planned collection at sea was unsuccessful, with bricks of cocaine washing up on NSW beaches for weeks afterwards, police said earlier.
He is also accused of helping import 565kg of cocaine into Western Australia in 2023 with those drugs allegedly dropped overboard from a bulk cargo carrier.
Roberts' barrister Angus Edwards said an extensive investigation over at least six months had found no drugs, large sums of money or weapons in Roberts' possession.
He argued Roberts, a fisherman, was one of many people occasionally asked to do things connected with what Wanted was doing.
"That is what the case tends towards - he's done some dog's body sorts of things."
Rather than being Wanted, the evidence suggested Roberts was more likely an associate who was relied on, occasionally, for his knowledge, Mr Edwards told the court.
The application was for Roberts to be bailed on "extraordinary" conditions like living with his mother who would provide a $1.5 million surety and being subject to a 24-hour curfew aside from daily reporting at a police station.
"It is difficult to see a more stringent set of conditions," Mr Edwards said.
Commonwealth prosecutor Daniel Trigger argued the risks in releasing Roberts on bail were simply too great.
He said the brief of evidence was being compiled and would be voluminous.
It was a highly complex case covering an extremely serious array of drug, money laundering and violent offences, Mr Trigger added.
Roberts was on parole for an earlier trafficking conviction during the alleged trafficking period between July 2022 and April 2024.
In refusing bail for Roberts, Justice Bradley found it was not yet possible to reliably assess the strength or weakness of the crown case which was based on an inference drawn from circumstantial evidence.
Roberts' case is due to be mentioned in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday.
