Bennet Schwartz charged with smuggling 27kg of cocaine relating to fugitive Mostafa Baluch

Former mining executive and Eastern Suburbs private schoolboy Bennet Schwartz tried to bluff his fellow cocaine conspirators with the simplest of lies, police will allege in court.

An Eastern Suburbs businessman charged with smuggling 27kg of cocaine into Australia will be accused in court of claiming he had a secret weapon to ensure the safe passage of the drug shipment.

But police will allege in court that Rose Bay’s Bennet Schwartz — a one time mining executive and ex Sydney Grammar student — was telling lies to fellow members of his drug syndicate that was smuggling cocaine to Australia hidden in deliveries of modelling clay.

Australian Federal Police superintendent Mathew Parsons on Saturday said it will be alleged in court the 34-year-old claimed he had an “insider who worked for the Australian Border Force” who could provide information on the status of the deliveries.

Accused cocaine smuggler Bennet Schwartz.

Drugs had allegedly been hidden inside model clay.

“As a result of that information we then worked with the Australian Commission of Law Enforcement and Integrity,” Supt Parsons said.

“We established there was no trusted insider,” he said.

Instead police will allege the reality was far less glamorous: Schwartz was just regularly checking the status of the deliveries on a parcel-tracking website — much like a person waiting on an Amazon order.

“What we did reveal … was that he was merely using commercial tracking platforms to regularly track (packages) he had coming from overseas,” Supt Parsons said.

Bennet Schwartz arrested at his Rose Bay home.

The drugs were allegedly hidden in a number of packages.

Schwartz did not apply for bail in Parramatta Local Court on Saturday on four charges of smuggling cocaine via deliveries that were addressed to apartments in Western Sydney in April and May.

Police said the investigation began in early 2020 when three separate consignments containing four, nine and 14kg of cocaine were seized by border authorities.

The cocaine was hidden inside packages of modelling clay.

Police will allege in court that Schwartz was a member of the syndicate importing the drugs.

Schwartz will be accused in court of using a phone subscribed in a false name to track 62 deliveries, six of which contained illegal drugs.

Supt Parsons said Schwartz’s alleged co-conspirator was restaurateur Mostafa Baluch who went missing on Monday after his court ordered ankle bracelet was cut off near his Bayview home.

Police intercepted texts alleged to be between Baluch and Schwartz during the investigation.

In one, it will be alleged that Schwartz asks Baluch if one of the packages is a “TV mounting unit” and if it is a “TV mounting unit?”

Baluch allegedly replied: “Not sure. But fits 8 @ 23kg lol.”

Baluch then allegedly wrote: “Hi bro we have three parcels ready. One with 4 one 6 and one eight…So that’s four kilos from Greece correct.”

Baluch was controversially granted bail in Central Local Court on October 21 and is also accused of smuggling 900kg of cocaine into Australia.

Police believe Baluch has gone in to hiding after vanishing last Monday. He was reportedly last seen in a Black Range Rover.

This came after Baluch — whose family run several well known Northern Beaches restaurants — was charged over the alleged cocaine imports and was arrested on June 3 at his Bayview home.

Mostafa Baluch. Picture: Facebook

Supt Parsons said “We don’t have information that indicates” Schwartz helped Baluch escape.

“We do have information that in the days leading up to Mr Baluch skipping bail and cutting off his electronic monitoring device that he was in contact with this gentleman,” Supt Parsons said.

Asked if police thought Schwartz helped Baluch escape, Supt Parsons said: “It could possibly be, they were definitely co offenders in the same matter.”

The senior officer said Schwartz came to the attention of police by allegedly arranging the cocaine deliveries by using an ANOM phone.

The phones were once thought to have encrypted messaging services but this year were revealed to be part of a worldwide police sting that allowed investigators to monitor the messages sent.

Schwartz previously worked for mining giant Rio Tinto after graduating from Sydney Grammar and the University of Sydney.

“He’s a successful qualified young gentleman with links to the mining industry and hospitality industry but obviously he’s chosen this road, be it for the fame and fortune of the gangster lifestyle,” Supt Parsons said.

Schwartz was arrested at his Rose Bay home on Friday where police seized three encrypted devices, which included phones.

Schwartz will face Central Local Court on December 22.

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