A New South Wales landscaper has been found guilty over his part in an attempt to import cocaine to Australia after 270 kilograms of the drug was found inside the arm of an excavator.
Timothy Engstrom, 38, was charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug and has been facing trial in the New South Wales District Court.
Police made the spectacular find of more than 300 packages inside the arm of the excavator when they X-rayed the machine after it was imported to Port Kembla from South Africa in 2019.
Officer replaced the drugs and followed the excavator until it was delivered to a gardening business at Bungendore, just outside Canberra.
Police had been intercepting telephone calls between Engstrom and his business partner Adam Hunter for some time, and filmed as Engstrom cut a hole in the excavator to remove the drugs, before climbing down a scaffold and fist-pumping Hunter.
Engstrom previously gave evidence that he had only learned about the excavator from his business partner, who had bought it for the business.
He said Hunter had begun to giggle as he said he had just purchased the excavator.
Engstrom told the court he told Hunter he was an idiot when he realised it was being imported from overseas because it would be difficult to maintain.
'It's not something stupid like heroin or something is it?'
Engstrom told the court he only learned that there was something hidden in the excavator, three days before he opened it up with an angle grinder and was subsequently arrested by police.
He said that when Hunter told him that he needed to get something out of the excavator, his heart sank.
"It's not something stupid like heroin or something is it?" Engstrom said he asked.
"No, no it's not, it's all good, don't stress," Engstrom said Hunter had replied.
"That's good, because my father would never talk to me again," Engstrom said he had replied.
Engstrom said he took his business partner and friend at his word.
But prosecutor Adam McGrath said it was implausible for Engstrom to maintain he did not know there were drugs in the digger.
He pointed to the circumstances where the pair had a struggling business, but had taken delivery of an excavator that did not work but cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Mr McGrath told the court, covert recordings from the next three days also revealed discussions between the pair about avoiding police and cameras.
Engstrom also enquired about whether his partner had somewhere "to burn shit" which the prosecution alleged was related to a concern about fingerprints being discovered on the packages.
Accused didn't know about drugs in excavator, court hears
Mr McGrath also told the jury Engstrom had clearly known something illegal was in the digger much earlier than he was willing to admit.
But Engstrom's lawyer told the jury there was plenty of evidence to suggest he did not know what was going on.
He reminded the jury of how Engstrom had been asking for help to get the excavator working because he wanted it intact because he wanted to use it.
Some of the evidence came from an undercover police officer who befriended Engstrom after his arrest.
Engstrom told the man he did not know the cocaine was there and only became fully aware when the police told him.
"F***, I didn't even know what was in there, I know it now," told the police officer.
The jury took just under three hours to deliver its guilty verdict, after a two-week trial.
Last year, Hunter pleaded guilty to his role in the crime and was sentenced to more than 12 years in jail.
Engstrom will be sentenced in March.
