Sanipepa Egan accused of posing with piles of cash after allegedly being busted with $2m worth of meth in Mildura

A man accused of trafficking meth in Mildura, allegedly flaunted “fictional” amounts of cash and acted as a courier for a syndicate with bikie links.

Police alleged Sanipepa Egan had photos on his phone showing him posing with amounts of cash only seen in “works of fiction.” Picture: Generic

A Wyndham Vale man accused of trafficking methamphetamine in Mildura was alleged to have photos on his phone showing stacks of cash so large, a police officer said he had only seen such piles “in works of fiction”.

Sanipepa Egan, 27, a talented footballer whose career was curtailed by an anterior cruciate ligament injury, was arrested in Red Cliffs on April 22 of this year allegedly with nearly two kilos of methamphetamine in his car.

The court heard police alleged Mr Egan was involved in a meth trafficking syndicate with alleged members of the Rebels bikie gang.

The court heard allegations Mr Egan was involved in a meth trafficking syndicate with alleged members of the Rebels bikie gang. Picture: Generic

Police claimed they had surveillance footage showing Mr Egan delivering what they believed to be methamphetamine to a Deakin Ave address in Mildura on multiple occasions.

Police informant Senior Constable Eamonn Devlin told the court images found on Mr Egan’s phone appeared to show him posing with large amounts of cash stored in boxes.

“I have never seen that much money in my life. I have only seen that (amount of money) in works of fiction,” Senior Constable Devlin told the court.

Constable Devlin also alleged Mr Egan would owe a debt to the syndicate and could be pressured to work off that debt if he was released on bail.

Mr Egan’s lawyer argued there was no direct evidence of any debt, describing the police assertion as assumption.

Methamphetamine generic

Mr Egan told police he believed he was delivering tobacco, not methamphetamine, when making trips to Mildura, the court heard.

Several reference letters were submitted in support of Mr Egan, including one from his workplace, with a surety offer of “at least $50,000” to secure his bail.

One reference described Mr Egan as “an amazing worker” and “one of our top guys”.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan said Mr Egan reasoning that he thought he was trafficking tobacco was naive

Magistrate Michael Coghlan said it was “a very, very significant amount of drugs alleged to have been located in his possession”, and described it as “naive” to accept Mr Egan’s account of the deliveries.

Mr Coghlan said the glowing references submitted on Mr Egan’s behalf did not impact his bail decision.

“I have grave concerns in relation to Mr Egan being an unacceptable risk, therefore I am not going to grant you bail today,” Mr Coghlan said.

Mr Egan was remanded in custody and is scheduled to return to court for a committal hearing on July 16.