The Snitch: Adam Cranston was propositioned to smuggle drugs

Why was Adam Cranston asked to smuggle drugs? And what nickname did his mates give him? And how would you react if your text messages about ordering “bags” came out in a court case? It’s all in The Snitch.

Adam Cranston has been convicted of stealing $105m from the Australian Taxation Office, so it’s safe to say he was into some bad stuff – but there was the potential for more.

In a secret police recording tendered in Cranston’s NSW Supreme Court trial, he told his accomplices in the tax rip-off that two of his associates were trying to convince him to smuggle drugs to WA. According to Cranston, the two men asked him to fly some cargo west, but did not reveal what it was.

“(The two men) approached me (and said) ‘you’ve got a pilot’s licence’,” Cranston was recorded saying on March 3, 2017. “He said ‘can you fly some cargo to Perth for us?’ … I’m like ‘what sort of cargo?’.”

Cranston said his scepticism led the two men to lie to him when one of them said: “Oh it’s just cash, mate.”

Adam ‘Balls’ Cranston drives a Ferrari before things went pear-shaped.

Given he had ripped off $105m from the ATO and was under investigation, Cranston said the offer didn’t appeal to him.

“I said ‘mate, look (I’m) not really into it, like I said, I’ve got enough money coming over here,” Cranston said. “It’s not really enticing … I can’t take extra risks … I can’t take double risks in life … I’m not going to get myself involved in this gangster s..t.”

Cranston then said the men increased their offer. “They upped it (and said) ‘we’ll give you a 100 grand to fly over’,” he said.

Cranston said he kept questioning the men before one of them “finally buckle(d)”. In the recording, Cranston said one of the men finally said: “We need you to take a couple of kilos over, because, mate, no one can get into Perth at the moment.”

Cranston was recorded saying that because of recent drug busts it had become difficult to get drugs into Perth. “They want a cleanskin,” he was recorded saying. “They wanted someone with a nice new plane.”

BALLS OR ARROGANCE

Still on Cranston, perhaps it was his nickname that made the men think he’d be interested in a drug-smuggling adventure. That’s because, to many in his circles, Cranston was known as “Balls”.

We don’t know the exact origins of the name, but his behaviour and actions present a pretty strong circumstantial case as to why he would be known as Balls.

An Adam Cranston self portrait.

Exhibit A: It would take a set to think you could rip off the ATO to the tune of $105m and get away with it. That, or it could be chalked up to hubris and stupidity.

Or it could be interpreted as a ballsy move that Adam thought he could trick his dad, Michael Cranston, who was a deputy commissioner of the ATO at the time, into revealing if he was under investigation.

It cost Michael his career and saw him dragged through the courts until he was found not guilty by a jury of accessing top-secret ATO information for the benefit of Adam. Michael wasn’t charged or accused of any involvement in the fraud.

So, would you call that balls or evidence that Adam has sociopathic tendencies?

OWNING IT

Over in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case we are seeing an exercise in doubling down from his friend, ex Liberal political strategist John Macgowan.

Last week the Federal Court released a series of text messages Lehrmann sent around the night Brittany Higgins went public on Channel 10’s The Project on February 15, 2021, with allegations that she had been raped. According to the texts released by the court, Lehrmann messaged a friend saying “need bags” and asked “got any gear (?)”. At 10.11pm, Lehrmann messaged Macgowan and said: “need bags... Let’s get it done... No one has work tomorrow”.

A minute later, he wrote to Macgowan that his friend was “paying”, adding, “lol so let’s get lit”.

John Macgowan. Picture: Cameron Richardson

Bruce Lehrmann. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Did MacGowan go to ground after the texts were released and written about in the media covering the case? Nope.

At 6.52pm on March 18, Macgowan retweeted a news update about “The London Metal Exchange”, which had “discovered bags of stones”. Macgowan added to the tweet: “When you find the wrong kinds of bags.”

It seems at least one Twitter user didn’t appreciate his humour.

Martynne Sabine, who has no followers and only follows two accounts – Chris Bowen and the ABC’s Q+A – replied to Macgowan’s tweet. In the reply, she quoted the text of Macgowan and Lehrmann’s exchange and tagged the Twitter account of the NSW Police.

Can you see it going anywhere? Neither.

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