A NEWCASTLE man accused of financing the importation of 52 kilograms of methamphetamine onboard a "black flight" from Papua New Guinea to Australia has been refused bail despite claiming to have no knowledge of the $15 million operation.
Michael David Bridge, 40, on Wednesday applied for bail in the NSW Supreme Court, arguing weaknesses in the prosecution case and the delay he was facing before a trial next year meant he could be released to house arrest to assist his ailing father.
Bridge was on parole for supplying large quantities of GBL and methamphetamine when he was arrested on April 1 last year, about 10 days after an Australian Federal Police-led investigation allegedly smashed a transnational organised crime group and seized duffle bags full of ice hidden in the nose of a light aircraft that landed on an outback airstrip in Queensland.
According to court documents, Bridge conspired to import the massive methamphetamine haul between November, 2022 and when the light plane was searched by investigators on March 21, 2023.
The court has previously heard there would be no issue during the trial that an importation took place, but it was denied Bridge had any knowledge of the operation.
Bridge was only released to parole in June, 2022 after spending six years behind bars and is accused of raising the funds for the importation by November.
And on Wednesday in NSW Supreme Court, Bridge's solicitor, Phillip Ryan, claimed the case against him was "somewhat circumstantial" and relied primarily on telephone intercepts and surveillance.
"The knowledge aspect, of what is actually going on, there is an absence of that evidence," Mr Ryan said.
When asked about the intercepted conversations, Mr Ryan said the suggestion that Bridge had knowledge of the specific importation was not the only inference one could draw.
"Can it be excluded that it might be knowledge of or a belief in relation to something else, even if that is somewhat nefarious, that is what I would be submitting," Mr Ryan said.
He argued that despite Bridge's parole being revoked and him serving that period behind bars until 2026, which was after the proposed trial date, he could be granted conditional bail and be placed under house arrest to look after his father, who had also offered a modest cash surety.
Prosecutors had opposed bail and pointed to Bridge's criminal history, which included the 10-year maximum jail term he received in 2018 for supplying drugs, and breaches of parole as well as the "extremely organised nature" of the importation, which they said included "access to airplanes and the ability to travel internationally without limitations".
After listening to the submissions, Justice Belinda Rigg, SC, said Bridge had not shown why his continued detention was not justified and refused bail.
Bridge was not arrested with five other men - two pilots and three ground crew - when the light plane touched down on Monto airstrip on March 21 last year. He was picked up 10 days later and is accused of funding the importation.
AFP investigators allege that on March 20 and 21 last year, the pilot, 51-year-old Bernard Hamilton Alexander, and co-pilot, 52-year-old John Otto Horvath, flew a twin-engine Beechcraft light aircraft from Wilton, in south west Sydney, refuelled in Monto and then flew to the town of Bulolo in PNG.
AFP say the flight was being monitored by members of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) Transnational Crime Unit from Lae in PNG.
It is alleged that the pilots collected 52 kilograms of methamphetamine in PNG and then flew to the airstrip at Monto to again refuel.
The men allegedly flew at an unauthorised low altitude with the aircraft's transponder switched off during the return journey in an effort to avoid radar detection, the AFP said.
Police allege the plan was for the flight to be refuelled and then flown onto NSW, but AFP officers had been watching and arrested five men - the two pilots - and three men they alleged were acting as ground crew and had staged themselves in Queensland since February in preparation of the flight.
One of the men is alleged to have had 17 mobile phones in his name.
The arrests were made as part of an investigation into black flights, which are aircraft that log false flight plans and fly at a very low altitude or turn off flight monitoring systems to avoid law enforcement or aviation detection and the AFP allege the syndicate were attempting to create a supply chain for delivering illicit drugs to Australia using black flights.
Following the arrests in Central Queensland, the AFP and NSW searched four homes and businesses in Wilton and Tahmoor, Fairy Meadow and Wallsend.
During the warrants, police allegedly seized electronic devices, firearm parts, drug paraphernalia and documentation referencing aircraft parts and travel to PNG.
