Canberra businessman Rohan Arnold has appeared in a NSW court after being extradited from Serbia over his alleged involvement in a $500 million international cocaine-smuggling ring.
The 43-year-old stockyards' director and steel importer was led through Sydney Airport by detectives after his arrival on Wednesday morning.
Arnold was one of three Australians arrested at gunpoint at a five-star hotel in the Serbian capital Belgrade in January over a syndicate that allegedly tried to bring more than a tonne of cocaine into Sydney via China.
Tristan Waters, 34, who ran now-closed Canberra nightclub Minque, and Murrumbateman man David Campbell, 48, were also locked up in Belgrade.
The Higher Court in Belgrade last month ruled Arnold and Waters "met legal conditions" for extradition to Australia.
The Australian Federal Police wouldn't comment on Waters' extradition status.
Arnold's matter was mentioned briefly in Central Local Court in Sydney on Wednesday, but he did not appear.
He's been charged with five offences including importing and attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
Magistrate Les Mabbutt adjourned the case until next Thursday for a bail application.
AFP Detective Superintendent Stephen Dametto said the sheer volume of the alleged importation suggested the culprits were high up in the supply chain.
"The simple fact is a 1.28-tonne cocaine shipment can only be financed and facilitated by a significant, well-resourced organised crime group," he told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.
"We believe it has links not just in Australia but around the world."
It's alleged Arnold used his links to overseas businesses to consign the shipment, however, there is no allegation of those companies being involved.
Supt Dametto refused to go into detail about the other men, citing ongoing legal proceedings.
Waters moved to Dubai in recent years and reportedly owns hotels and assets worth more than $1 billion.
He has also been connected to several companies set up by, or involving, key players of the Australian Taxation Office fraud syndicate allegedly run by Adam Cranston, the son of then ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston, according to Fairfax media.
The 1280kg cocaine haul, seized in April 2017, was the second largest in Australian history and was hidden inside pre-fabricated steel in a Chinese container ship docked in Sydney.
Detectives allegedly found 2576 individual blocks of cocaine with an estimated street value up to $500 million.
Arnold is one of nine shareholders in the South Eastern Livestock Exchange in NSW, which also runs the Western Victorian Livestock Exchange.
In January, SELX director Brendan Abbey confirmed Arnold had been arrested but thought his business partner had travelled to China.
Dramatic footage from the January arrests showed officers with guns drawn swooping on the lobby of the luxury Metropol Palace hotel.
Australian Associated Press
