Local man extradited

Mr Campbell is the second man to be extradited in connection to Operation Amorgos, which alleges an organised crime syndicate imported an estimated $500 million or 1.28 tonnes of cocaine.

The Australian Federal Police say Mr Campbell was involved with the cocaine’s importation through his Australian business, which was used to facilitate the import.

Mr Campbell arrived in Australia on Tuesday July 31 after spending seven months in jail in Serbia. He appeared before Judge Lyon at Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday August 1, where the matter was adjourned to Wednesday September 19 at Central Local Court.

He is facing at least five charges including: the importation of a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs; conspiring to import, and possess, a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs; and attempting to import, and possess, a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs.

Mr Campbell’s case has been pending since his arrest in January this year. He was reportedly not in the Belgrade hotel when police entered it in a raid, but waiting in a car outside. He was arrested soon after.

Rohan Arnold, 43, who headed up Mass Steel in Goulburn from 2011 and was a director of South Eastern Livestock Exchange at Yass, was the first man extradited from Serbia in March this year.

Mr Arnold appeared in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.

Tristan Waters, 34, who ran a now-closed Canberra nightclub, Minque, was arrested with Mr Arnold when Serbian police stormed the lobby of the Belgrade hotel. 

Mr Waters was ruled by a Serbian Court to be extradited in February this year, at the same time the decision to extradite Mr Arnold was made. Mr Waters, however, has not yet been extradited.

Operation Amorgos is the second-largest seizure of cocaine in Australian history. 

It was hidden inside pre-fabricated steel and found in April 2017 on a Chinese freighter that docked in Sydney.