Construction boss on trial over excavator drug haul

Jack Gramenz | February 16, 2023

Recording devices captured the “frustration” of a man who allegedly cut open an excavator after police had already removed hundreds of kilos of MDMA, a court has heard.

Tony Maaz, 35, has pleaded not guilty to attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, namely MDMA.

Maaz purchased an orange Doosan excavator through an online auction site he’d previously bought construction equipment from before it was shipped to one of his company’s building sites in Sydney’s west.

Prior to the purchase, Australian Border Force became suspicious of an X-ray taken after the 42-tonne excavator arrived at Port of Brisbane from Southampton, UK in March 2020.

Australian Federal Police were called in to examine it, finding and removing 226 bags containing a crystalline substance later identified as MDMA with an estimated wholesale value of more than $13 million.

An AFP crime scene officer involved in the examination, Sloan Hamilton, told the NSW District Court on Thursday she was unsure how the drugs got in the excavator.

“We could only assume entry was gained in a similar way to (what) our team did but there was nothing obvious when we made entry,” she said.

An angle grinder was used to access two cavities, where the bags were found alongside lead sheeting, insulation and a fire blanket.

“(In) other importations we’ve found in the past, criminal syndicates use lead to try and disrupt the X-ray,” the on-duty ABF X-ray image interpreter Paul Woodbridge told the court.

He said AFP officers accompanied the excavator when it arrived for examination but he was unaware whether it was a random or targeted selection.

Surveillance devices and a location tracker were fitted before the excavator continued to the Gold Coast, where it was listed for sale through Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers and its associated Ironplanet online platform on April 16, 2020.

Crown prosecutor David Barrow told the court Maaz was the only person who bid on the auction the day it went live, eclipsing what he called a “secret reserve”.

The UK seller made a counter-offer and Maaz agreed to pay $288,000.

Mr Barrow said it was not a genuine negotiation between the two.

“The prosecution alleges this was just a great deception to give it a veneer of legitimacy,” he said.

Maaz previously placed two similar Doosan excavators on his watchlist but did not bid on them.

He received the excavator on May 7, 2020, at a Blacktown building site already under surveillance by the AFP, Mr Barrow said.

The sounds of power tools, recorded conversations and vision of Maaz driving the excavator are all expected to be put before the jury.

“The listening device conversations record their puzzlement, their frustration,” Mr Barrow said.

“Bro, they better f***ing give us money these c***s … we have done the right thing,” Maaz can be heard saying in one excerpt quoted by Mr Barrow.

“I’ve cut it now five times, four times, they are f***ing us around,” Maaz was allegedly recorded saying the next day.

A welder allegedly called in to undo the damage and a commercial printer who made new stickers to allegedly cover up any signs are also expected to give evidence, Mr Barrow said.

The orange Doosan excavator remained on the Blacktown building site for about seven months before the AFP seized it and charged Maaz on December 9, 2020.

The trial resumes on Friday before Judge Mark Buscombe.