Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au
NSW man jailed for failed drug smuggling
A NSW fisherman who admitted attempting to import 512kg of cocaine has been sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment.
February 13, 2020
A Sydney fisherman who fled from the Australian navy while his co-accused threw half a tonne of cocaine overboard has been jailed.
Anthony Trevor Draper, 55, admitted trying to import 512kg of cocaine that he and another man picked up from armed and masked men aboard a Colombian ship off the NSW coast in 2018.
He was sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday to 13 years’ imprisonment for attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
Draper will be eligible for parole after four years and three months behind bars.
He was promised $10,000 if he skippered a rigid inflatable boat but was misled into believing the drug he was collecting was cannabis.
Investigators watched on as he and another man packed the cocaine packages into their boat in the middle of the night before they were intercepted by the authorities.
But Draper sped away, driving about 200km across the ocean before being arrested near the seaside town of Brunswick Heads.