Thousands of Panadol tablets and a Ferrari are among a huge haul of items seized by police as part of a drug trafficking and money laundering investigation that has landed a Canberra car dealer in court.
Police arrested Nicholas John Kozak, 24, after stopping a Ford Ranger, bearing "BRUVVA" number plates, on the Federal Highway on Thursday.
When the Holt man faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday, he pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering, contravening a lawful order, and five counts of possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
The court heard Kozak was accused of trafficking in cocaine and laundering money through vehicle sales.
The alleged proceeds of crime were a red Ferrari, a blue Holden and a white Hino truck, as well as a total of $50,000 in cash.
Police documents, tendered to the court, reveal Kozak had been of interest to officers as far back as November 2021, when an ongoing investigation began.
During searches that month, in June 2022 and on Thursday, police seized more than 90 grams of cocaine, 2400 Panadol Extra tablets, which are commonly used to cut the drug, a Ferrari 360, a Holden Commodore Brock Edition replica, cash and car parts.
Police allege that after Kozak was arrested following the latest searches, he contravened a lawful order to provide investigators with access to a phone.
Because that alleged offence occurred while serious charges against Kozak were pending or outstanding, he had to demonstrate special or exceptional circumstances in order to apply for bail on Friday.
His lawyer, Michael Kukulies-Smith, successfully argued these existed because the bail provision requiring special or exceptional circumstances generally applied to people accused of committing serious crimes after being charged.
In Kozak's "unusual" case, he had been arrested but not yet charged when he allegedly refused to give police access to the phone.
Seeking bail for his client, Mr Kukulies-Smith said the 24-year-old had no criminal history and had not tried to flee or interfere with evidence despite having known for a long time that police were interested in his activities.
He added that the case against Kozak was "hardly overwhelming" in circumstances where the defendant worked as a car dealer and ran a business with a significant turnover.
"The presence of money and cars is in a very different context to working as a labourer, or similar," Mr Kukulies-Smith told the court.
Prosecutor Mark Wadsworth, who opposed bail, said while a vehicle trader was "going to have a lot of cars", drugs would not usually be found in them as they had allegedly been in this case.
Mr Wadsworth said Kozak was accused of "selling cocaine in large quantities", which would be valued in the "tens of thousands of dollars".
He also claimed the 24-year-old had been laundering amounts of money that were "possibly in the hundreds of thousands" of dollars in order to "support criminal activity in the community".
Mr Wadsworth argued the scale of the alleged operation demonstrated a likelihood of Kozak committing crimes if released, telling the court there would be little utility in bail conditions.
But magistrate Louise Taylor disagreed, saying Kozak had never even received a speeding fine and finding nothing to suggest he would breach bail conditions.
Ms Taylor accordingly released Kozak on what she described as a "very strict" bail regime, which includes daily reporting to Belconnen Police Station.
She warned Kozak police would be closely scrutinising his compliance because it was "beyond doubt" that he was accused of serious offences.
Kozak, whose brother paid $5000 in security to gain his release from custody, is due back in court in April.
Police have urged anyone with information about the sale and distribution of drugs in the ACT to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or on the Crime Stoppers ACT website.
People with information should quote reference number 6958396.
Information can be provided anonymously.
