Patterson Mosby and Eli Wapau denied bail, charged with possession of 110kg of cocaine
Two Torres Strait Islander men have made a bid for bail after they were allegedly “caught red handed with a mother lode of cocaine” in Far North Queensland, a court has heard.
Cairns
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Two men have been denied bail because there was an “unacceptable risk” of them fleeing after police allegedly watched them unload 110kg of cocaine worth $44m from a boat on the Cape York Peninsula.
Patterson Mosby and Eli Wapau, both aged 39 from the Torres Strait, appeared in Cairns Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Trent Denman said Mr Mosby presented an unacceptable risk of failing to reappear.
“It’s a serious offence with a maximum sentence of life in prison,” Mr Denman said.
“There is significant motivation for the applicant to abscond and flee to avoid spending a significant time in custody.”
Mr Denman said because Mr Mosby’s residence in the Torres Strait was so close to Papua New Guinea, there was a “very real risk” the defendant could flee the Australian jurisdiction by “a short boat ride to PNG” to avoid prosecution.
Mr Denman told the court Mr Mosby’s role appeared to be that of an intermediary courier and suggested there was a “high likelihood this offending involved a larger criminal network”.
Magistrate Michael Dalton accepted the Torres Strait had porous borders with PNG.
He agreed a sentence of more than 10 years was “a powerful incentive for him to not be present” and stated the men were effectively “caught red handed with a mother lode of cocaine”.
Defence lawyer Peter Haarsma, who represented the two men in court, said there was little risk of the men warning others there had been an intercept.
“It was on the front page of the Cairns Post this morning, I’m pretty sure that anyone else would have been warned,” Mr Haarsma said.
He conceded the offending was “almost of the highest level” but argued both men had the presumption of bail.
Mr Haarsma said Mr Mosby received “effectively $2000 to pick up a package and drop it off” as a courier.
He told the court Mr Mosby had a residence in Cairns from which he could report to comply with bail conditions
Mr Haarsma argued Mr Wapau, who resides on Moa Island, had strong ties to his community with a young family and a business on the island, which lowered his flight risk.
“He was a lesser protagonist in this, he was picked up by Mr Mosby and taken to the Seisia wharf,” he said.
Ultimately, Mr Dalton ruled the seriousness of the offending alone was enough to refuse both applications for bail.
They were allegedly observed unloading a number of boxes from the boat by officers from the AFP Cairns crime team.
The two men then allegedly packed the boxes into their waiting car.
Police pulled over the car and a search uncovered boxes allegedly filled with 110 separate packages containing a white substance.
Preliminary testing of the substance returned a positive result for cocaine, the AFP will allege.
Both men have been charged with possessing a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs.
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