Alleged ringleader of cocaine bricks gang must give fingerprints, court rules

The alleged Australian ringleader of an international crime gang arrested after bricks of cocaine washed up on Sydney’s beaches has lost his Federal Court bid to stop authorities fingerprinting him.

Daniel Wayne John Roberts, 37, who this masthead revealed was a Brisbane construction boss before his arrest, stands accused of several federal and Queensland criminal offences.

He was charged last year after a 12-month police investigation into the botched import of 900 kilograms of cocaine.

Daniel Wayne John Roberts, 36, used monikers including “John Dillinger” and “Wanted” when allegedly communicating on electronic devices.Credit: Australian Federal Police

Authorities estimated the total street value of the drugs allegedly imported by his syndicate in 2023 was $683 million.

Roberts had asked the Federal Court to review an order for him to be fingerprinted, as prosecutors sought to match him to a high-definition image of a hand shared in a group chat.

The prosecution case centres around an alleged operation where a small crew set out into the ocean off Brisbane, tasked with collecting bricks of cocaine from the water. But police said it failed because of adverse weather conditions on the night in November 2023.

The package of cocaine next to the Newcastle Ocean Baths. Credit: Australian Federal Police

The packages, wrapped in plastic and tied tightly with tape, later washed up along NSW beaches from Newcastle to Manly between December that year and April the next.

Roberts’ case remains before the Brisbane Magistrates Court, and last year Deputy Chief Magistrate Anthony Gett ordered further testing be done on Roberts.

The accused launched a Federal Court judicial review, listing Gett and a detective involved in the case as respondents, but the court’s judgment on Monday allowed the testing to go ahead.

“[Roberts] is alleged by the prosecution to have used an encrypted messaging application in the course of the alleged offending,” Justice Kylie Downes said in the judgment.

“An aspect of circumstantial evidence relied upon is a high-definition image of a hand which was sent to a group chat.

“The image was able to be analysed by a fingerprint expert, who determined that the fingerprints matched older fingerprint records of [Roberts], as well as a set of his fingerprints taken when he was arrested on April 17, 2024.”

That fingerprint expert told police that a new sample of Roberts’ palm would allow for further comparison, but he refused, leading Gett to make an order in September for the procedure to be performed on Roberts.

Justice Downes ruled that the forensic procedure ordered by the Deputy Chief Magistrate was minimally invasive, and would be performed in the presence of Roberts’ solicitor.

“[Roberts] has not provided any reasons other than a reference to his bodily integrity and privacy to justify his refusal to consent to the procedure, being a not dissimilar procedure to that undertaken on two previous occasions,” Downes said.

“Such circumstances do not rise to the ‘significant threshold’ required before the court entertains a challenge to an investigative process in a criminal proceeding.

“It is therefore not in the interests of justice to intervene.”

Downes also ordered Roberts to pay the legal costs of the detective listed in the review.

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