Two Karabar men accused of attempting to traffic $144 million worth of cocaine into Australia through an elaborate concealment inside heavy machinery have had their case adjourned until November 4.
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Neither Timothy John Engstrom, 34, nor Adam Phillip Hunter, 35, appeared in Queanbeyan Local Court on Monday before Magistrate Michael Antrum.
Both remain in custody and neither have made an application for bail.
Earlier this year, ACT police became aware of a possible large-scale drug importation involving a syndicate based in southern NSW and the ACT.
In July, Border Force's Port Botany container x-ray machine revealed anomalies inside the lifting arm of a second-hand Caterpillar excavator shipped in from South Africa.
Customs officers cut into the steel arm to find it contained 384kg of cocaine.
Substitution of the drugs was made to facilitate a controlled delivery, the lifting arm repaired and repainted, and the excavator then allowed to proceed via low-loader to a landscape supplies company in Bungendore.
Specialist Response Group police swooped on the Bungendore premises in the early hours of Sunday, July 14, and arrested the two men.
It is the largest cocaine seizure made by ACT police.