Police have seized a haul of drugs estimated to be worth more than $3.5 million and allegedly headed for the ACT.
Andrew James O'Keefe, 33, faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday, charged with trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug.
Before the man was refused bail, prosecutor Sam Bargwanna said police suspected the man of either being a "drug mule" for a "syndicate" or of being a dealer planning to on sell them.
Police allegedly discovered the drugs after a Barton Highway traffic stop about 4pm on Tuesday.
More than five kilograms of methamphetamine, encrypted mobile devices and approximately 500 grams of Boric Acid, a known cutting agent, were discovered in the man's Ford Transit, police said.
Mr Bargwanna opposed the man's bail application on the grounds of his likely failure to appear before court, committing further offences and for his own safety and welfare.
"There is motivation for him to go into hiding to avoid not only criminal prosecution but retribution from the people who the prosecution say sold him the drugs or who he was transporting them for," he said.
"He just lost an extremely large amount of drugs to law enforcement."
The prosecutor also said "strong inference" could be drawn that O'Keefe was aware of the drugs in his car and that he was either transporting them for himself or someone else.
However, defence lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith said concerns from the prosecution and police were "pernicious speculation".
Mr Kukulies-Smith told the court the proposition that the "drug syndicate" his client is accused of working for could both help him flee and pose a danger to his safety was inconsistent.
"They're assuming all the worst case scenarios and that they might all come to pass even though some of them are mutually exclusive of each other," he said.
The lawyer also said any drug debt being owed was an assumption.
"The opposition is built on speculation," he said.
According to police, the alleged drugs were found in a "large, sophisticated hydraulic concealment area within the vehicle".
A further search warrant on the man's apartment in Phillip was executed and cash was seized, which police will allege to be proceeds of crime.
Special magistrate Rebecca Christensen said concerns of O'Keefe's possible reoffending to pay an alleged drug debt and the existence of a syndicate was "essentially speculation".
She also said she could not conclude on the balance of probabilities that the man would be at risk if granted bail.
However, Ms Christensen said the man faced "very serious allegations" and that the consequences if he were to be convicted were "likely to be a lengthy period of imprisonment".
O'Keefe is set to return to court next month after being refused bail.
