Disgraced Olympic kayaker Nathan Baggaley and his brother learn their fate after failed plot to smuggle up to $200m of cocaine into Australia

Disgraced Olympic kayaker Nathan Baggaley and his brother Dru are eligible for parole after being re-sentenced six years ago for their involvement in a failed plot to smuggle up to $200 million worth of cocaine into Australia.

The duo pleaded guilty in October to attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug (cocaine) off the coast of eastern Australia between December 16, 2017 and August 2, 2018.

The Crown alleged the Baggaley brothers planned to pick up plastic packets of cocaine from a foreign cargo ship 360 kilometers off the Queensland coast.

The brothers were previously found guilty of the charge by a jury during the 2021 trial.

The court was told at the brother’s first trial that the drugs, which contained more than 500kg of pure cocaine, were estimated to be worth up to $200 million.

The 48-year-old silver medalist and former world champion was sentenced to 25 years in prison at the time, while his younger brother Dru, 42, was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

They successfully appealed their convictions, but pleaded guilty when the case returned to court.

The brothers were re-sentenced in the Brisbane District Court on Monday.

The court was told the Crown was now unable to prove whether both brothers had ‘positive’ knowledge that they were specifically involved in the importation of cocaine.

However, the brothers ultimately accepted their role in the failed drug plot by pleading guilty to the charges.

The court was told Nathan had purchased and equipped an inflatable dinghy with satellite communications equipment, which Dru and another man, Anthony Draper, used to extract the drugs from the ocean.

The court was told that Dru and Draper had traveled by boat to meet a foreign ship, where armed men of ‘South American or Colombian appearance’ delivered at least thirty packages measuring 50cm long, 30cm wide and 25cm high , wrapped in plastic bags, were thrown overboard.

Crown prosecutor Patrick Wilson said Dru and Draper then removed these packages from the water “one by one” before starting their way back to the mainland.

However, while they were traveling, they were intercepted by authorities and attempted to flee.

As the pair tried to flee, Dru threw the packages overboard, prompting authorities to stop and retrieve them from the water.

Queensland Police eventually intercepted the dinghy and Dru and Draper were arrested about 65 nautical miles off the coast of Byron Bay.

Draper has since been sentenced to 13 years in prison for his involvement in the failed importation plot.

The court was told Nathan had been waiting at Brunswick Heads in northern NSW for his brother and Draper to return from the coast.

The court was told he had tried to call the boat’s phone several times before leaving Brunswick Heads but continued to monitor the boat ramp for their arrival.

In their previous appeal, Dru’s legal counsel successfully argued that there was a miscarriage of justice due to counsel’s “inability to provide evidence” regarding their client’s alleged possession of a phone, which was a key part formed the Crown’s original case against him.

In their published reasons, the Court of Appeal stated that Dru Baggaley’s counsel had not asked questions during the trial to obtain evidence about the phone, including its ownership.

It included allegations that Draper had mailed the phone to Dru and asked him to buy a SIM card and a payment card.

Wilson said the Baggaley brothers entered their guilty pleas last month after “the matters were resolved through negotiations.”

Mr Wilson said the two brothers had different levels of “criminal responsibility” and this should now be “recognized” differently at sentencing than when they pleaded not guilty to the same charge at their first trial.

Mr Wilson said it was agreed there was now “insufficient evidence” that Dru “knew for certain” he was collecting controlled drugs at the border when he traveled on the boat.

The court was told Dru believed he was collecting cannabis.

Wilson said Dru was “reckless that a border controlled drug existed” but that it could not be proven that he knew “the precise quantity” of what he collected.

However, Mr Wilson said Dru was also “reckless” after the parcels were collected and likely had a “heightened awareness” of what they contained when he failed to stop the boat while it was being chased by authorities.

Mr Wilson said there was also ‘insufficient evidence’ that his brother Nathan knew of plans to import cocaine or the precise quantity that would be collected before July 2018, other than buying the boat.

The Crown also accepted that Nathan did not know Draper.

“Nathan Baggaley’s role is condensed in the sense that he was on standby on shore and was involved in a short period of time,” he said.

Dru’s barrister, Saul Holt KC, told the court that his client had since pleaded guilty to “very different” charges leveled against him by the Crown and that previous comments about the sentencing are “irrelevant”.

Mr Holt said his client was in a “reckless state of mind due to the criminality of involvement” for a period of two days.

He said his client will serve a 15-year prison sentence but be released on parole immediately from Monday, giving Dru the opportunity to apply through the proper channels.

Nathan’s barrister, Gregory McGuire KC, told the court his client should receive a “similar main sentence to that imposed on Draper” – namely 13 years.

Judge Declan Kelly sentenced Nathan to 13 years in prison and Dru to 15 years in prison

Judge Kelly ordered that both brothers be eligible for parole from Monday after serving 1,969 days and 2,787 days respectively.

He said the amount of drugs seized by authorities was “significant”.

Judge Kelly said he accepted Mr Holt’s claim that “the facts are completely different” compared to the brothers’ sentencing in 2021.

However, he said that “the volume of imports is nevertheless a very relevant factor” in his sentencing.