Adam Hunter: Canberra cocaine smuggler ‘Pablo Excavator’s’ lack of knowledge ‘odd’: court

A broke salesman who was recruited by a mystery ‘coffee man’ to help smuggle 384kg of cocaine hidden inside an excavator from Africa feared reprisals if he told the truth, a court has heard.

A broke salesman, known online as “Pablo Excavator” after the notorious Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who was recruited to help smuggle cocaine from Africa hidden inside an excavator feared reprisals if he told the truth, a court has heard.

Adam Phillip Hunter, 35, of Karabar near Canberra, pleaded guilty last year to attempting to import $140 million of cocaine from South Africa inside a second-hand excavator in 2019.

Crown prosecutors said despite Hunter claiming he had no knowledge of the amount of cocaine being shipped in the “very large piece of machinery” he was aware, as of May 2019, that it was a “significant” amount.

Prosecutors told the court Hunter shouldn’t receive his entire 25 per cent sentence reduction for his guilty plea as he had not been completely honest with police.

Adam Hunter was arrested after a sting operation by the AFP. Picture: Facebook

Prosecutors said court Hunter, while not a “mastermind”, took a greater role in the importation by recruiting his own team of three to cut the cocaine from the machine, and not allowing syndicate members into his warehouse for the job.

The court heard Hunter received photos of the “bricks” of cocaine on his encrypted cipher phone before the digger arrived at his warehouse.

Prosecutors told the court Hunter played a “critical role” with the syndicate for months after being recruited by a mystery person known only as “coffee man” in March or April 2019.

Hunter has not revealed the identity of the man, who he has known for years, to investigators out of fear for his own safety, the court heard.

Police uncovered 384kg of cocaine inside the second-hand excavator imported from South Africa. Picture: AFP

Campbelltown District Court Judge Andrew Colefax told the court he found it “implausible” Hunter was unable to remember if he told his best friend the packages contained cocaine, or that his friend failed to ask what was in the packages.

Judge Colefax told the court he found it hard to believe Hunter was “not remotely interested” in the quantity and the quality of the drug, and that he found it “troubling” and “very odd” he was prepared to send $50,000 to someone in South Africa he did not know.

He told the court Hunter had shown “unusual acts of trust” to people he knew were criminals, and complete strangers on another continent.

Prosecutors told the court Hunter’s version of events were “difficult to believe” and his business Bungendore Landscape Supplies was used to create a “paper trail to hide what was going on”.

Hunter’s lawyer Kieran Ginges described his client as a “simple, country” man who was exploited by a larger network of smugglers who knew he wanted to purchase an excavator.

Adam Hunter will be sentenced in September.

He told the court his financially struggling client’s main motive was not drug money but the opportunity to buy a $130,000 excavator at the bargain price of $50,000, which would be later reimbursed.

“He’s a dreamer, he’s naive,” he told the court.

“He’s not some underworld criminal.”

Border Force officials detected 384kg of the drug inside the digger when it arrived in Australia, and AFP officers began an elaborate surveillance operation, tapping phone calls and setting up hidden cameras to film Hunter in his warehouse with the drugs.

Judge Colefax adjourned Hunter’s sentencing to September 17 in order to read over transcripts of the prosecution and defence’s sentencing submissions.