Two men thought they had received almost 30kg of pure cocaine hidden in a shipping container when it arrived in Brisbane from Colombia, a court has heard.
What they actually got was nearly 100 packets of a substitute powder plus a covert listening device planted by Australian Federal Police, a Supreme Court trial was told.
Mark Anthony Dumenil, 49, and Hashanth Arjuna Kulatunge, 51, were arrested in January 2018 after cocaine was detected days earlier by Australian Border Force in the container, crown prosecutor Ben Power said.
AFP were called after 33kg of cocaine powder containing 26.5kg of pure cocaine was found in 99 plastic packets in the shipping container's railings upon its arrival, a jury heard.
AFP replaced the cocaine with another substance and inserted the sound activated recording device before the shipping container arrived at a Wacol warehouse Dumenil was renting.
Mr Power said the device documented Dumenil and Kulatunge using a grinder and other equipment to cut the packets out of the container, with the former heard saying: "We are going to get f***ing good money out of this".
The two men - now under AFP surveillance - put 60 packets into a bag, hiding the remainder inside the warehouse's walls, the court heard.
The listening device was inside one of the 60 packets in the bag, Mr Power said.
AFP saw Kulatunge depart in a car with the bag before delivering it to two men, the jury heard.
Mr Power said the device in the bag recorded Kulatunge complaining to the two men about how poorly the drugs were packed in the container compared to "last time".
Kulatunge told the men "last time it was nice, perfect" before saying "if you are not going to do it properly I don't want to be involved", Mr Power said.
The jury heard Kulatunge then told the two men they wouldn't get the other 39 packets until he got paid.
Mr Power said the device recorded Kulatunge saying: "At least another 200,000 needs to come to me".
Two men were then seen leaving with the bag, the court heard.
Mr Power said Kulatunge was the "middle man" who received a diagram the previous evening from the two men providing instructions on how to extract the cocaine from the container.
He said the diagram - which was shown to the jury on Monday - was later located in Dumenil's rental car.
Dumenil pleaded not guilty to one count each of attempt to possess commercial quantities of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs and importing commercial quantities of border controlled drugs.
Kulatunge pleaded not guilty to importing commercial quantities of border controlled drugs.
But he pleaded guilty to attempt to possessing commercial quantities of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs.
"What you will hear consistently (during the trial) is that he (Kulatunge) was not involved in the actual organising of the importation," defence barrister Saul Holt told the jury.
The trial before Justice David Jackson continues.
