The day police said he could leave Australia despite looming charges, a Sydney drug trafficker flew to Thailand.
Benjamin Ainsley Klein would spend over 10 years in the Asian country, before he was finally arrested in Sydney for trading in more than $4 million in illegal drugs.
The 43-year-old was picked up by police upon his return in March and charged over a plot to import methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, and cocaine into Australia in 2012.
He has pleaded guilty to two counts of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and will be sentenced for his role in the criminal plot on May 23.
Along with a group of others, including his older brother Jonathan, Klein plotted to import around 3.8kg of ice and 600g of cocaine via a flight from Hong Kong to Sydney.
Police estimate the drugs would have had a street value of around $4.4 million at the time.
While in Hong Kong, Klein helped smuggle four bricks of cocaine and a protein tub full of methamphetamine onto the Cathay Pacific flight, according to documents filed with Sydney's Downing Centre District Court.
The drugs were then hidden behind a plastic toilet shroud in one of the aircraft's bathrooms, from where they were retrieved by Jonathan Klein after the plane landed in Sydney.
At the time, he worked as an aircraft engineer with Cathay Pacific and had access to restricted areas at the Kingsford-Smith Airport.
Police arrested him hours after the plane touched down, searching his car and locating the drugs.
On August 14 that year, at which stage Benjamin Klein had not been charged, he spoke to an Australian Federal Police officer asking whether he could leave the country as he had received threats from Hong Kong.
Klein said he wanted to travel to Thailand to be with his family.
"(The officer) informed the offender that he was not under arrest and was free to leave at any time," court documents said.
Klein was told of his brother's arrest and informed that he would be charged with the same importation offences that Jonathan was facing.
That same day, he was on a flight to Thailand, where he stayed until he no longer had a valid visa and was forced to return to Australia in March 2023.
At the time of the drug importation, Klein also rented out an apartment in Hong Kong.
Police searched the premises in July 2012, after his brother's arrest, and found another 3kg of cocaine and 10kg of ice.
