A “misunderstanding” over a request for a court video-link has sparked a brief panic over the whereabouts of a suburban dad police say is a Mr Big in a Perth drug syndicate.
Nikola Maksimovic, a father with a young family in Safety Bay, was arrested earlier this year after returning from overseas over the seizure of 59kg of methamphetamine last May.
Police had previously claimed he fled overseas to avoid capture, but his lawyers claim Mr Maksimovic, who was born in Australia but has ties to Serbia, was already overseas when he was labelled a “drug kingpin” a year ago.
After his arrest, he was released on bail on a $500,000 personal undertaking and his family put up a $1 million surety. He was due in Stirling Gardens Magistrate’s Court this morning but when he had not arrived, and there was no lawyer present on his behalf, registrar Natalie Whitby issued an arrest warrant.
His non-appearance came after prosecutors applied to proceed on a Supreme Court indictment earlier this month, meaning they consider his alleged offences to be among the most serious of drug crimes.
But after seemingly learning of the warrant, Mr Maksimovic, who police say is a senior member of the Comancheros motorcycle club, arrived at court about four hours later, remarking: “So much for an arrest warrant then,” as he passed waiting media.
His lawyer, Aisha Lopez, who is based in New South Wales, phoned into the court and apologised for “this morning’s misunderstanding”, saying the non-appearance was not Mr Maksimovic’s fault. Ms Lopez said she had sent paperwork to request to appear in court remotely but had sent it to the Perth Magistrate’s Court instead of Stirling Magistrate’s Court, causing the “unfortunate error” and “debacle”.
The arrest warrant was then revoked and his bail was renewed on the same terms. While in the dock, Mr Maksimovic entered not guilty pleas to the three charges against him, including that he conspired with others to sell or supply meth between May 7 and 10 last year.
Mr Maksimovic also pleaded not guilty to a money laundering charge allegedly committed between the same dates, as well as wilfully destroying a mobile phone on April 20 this year “to prevent it from being used in evidence”.
The 33-year-old was detained by Australian Border Force officers after arriving back in the country on January 19. An earlier court hearing was told police found 56kg of drugs in three plastic containers when they searched a shipping container which arrived from Victoria by rail on may last year.
Prosecutors say the containers were found under rolls of materials, including carpet and bubble wrap. The shipment was driven to Belmont where police allege Mr Maksimovic met a 45-year-old Victorian man and an exchange of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash took place.
It is alleged about 3kg of meth was also found after police executed a search warrant at a South Lake home on May 10. Police executed further search warrants at rooms in Crown Plaza, where $66,750 was seized, and Aloft Hotel, where $70,950 was seized.
Five others were also charged in relation to the investigation, named Operation Trident Coyote, including two men from NSW, a Victorian man, a 44-year-old man from Bennett Springs and a 28-year-old South Lake man. Mr Maksimovic is due back in court on July 20.
Make sure you have subscribed to our Facebook page or Twitter to stay tuned!
Source: Pilbara News