A man police allege is an "upper-level supplier of heroin" in the ACT is accused of burying drugs in public places, including next to a childcare centre, before retrieving and selling them to an undercover police officer.
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Van Dam Hoang, 47, was arrested on Sunday, and police say a subsequent search of his home uncovered cash and about 150 grams of heroin, with an estimated street value of $70,000.
Police have described the arrest as being part of a months-long investigation that, following an increase in drug overdose deaths in Canberra, identified a "criminal network" supplying heroin in the city's north.
They say arresting Mr Hoang has stopped about 1400 hits of heroin from reaching the streets.
Mr Hoang pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday to five charges of trafficking heroin between January 20 and March 1.
Documents tendered to the court, during an unsuccessful bail application, detail five drug deals in which Mr Hoang allegedly sold heroin to an undercover police officer.
The Vietnamese man, who lives in Hawker, is accused of selling the officer a combined five ounces of heroin in exchange for payments totalling $43,500.
Prosecutor Juanita Zankin told the court the undercover operation had shed light on Mr Hoang's method of operation, which included burying heroin in public places before digging the drugs up to sell to buyers he met in those locations.
She said Mr Hoang had buried packages of high-purity heroin in places including next to a childcare centre, which placed children at risk of unwittingly finding it.
The childcare centre is identified in court documents as the Southern Cross Early Childhood School in Scullin.
Four of the alleged drug deals took place on the same street as the childcare centre, according to court documents, while the fifth was near Belconnen High School and Hawker College.
Ms Zankin told the court no bail conditions could prevent the risk of Mr Hoang committing offences or endangering the safety and welfare of others.
Defence lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith said there was no reference in the police allegations of Mr Hoang having dealt drugs to anyone other than undercover police.
He suggested there was "an element of entrapment, or at least inducement" to offend.
"If [Mr Hoang] is not being approached by undercover police officers, there's no evidence of any [risk to public safety]," Mr Kukulies-Smith said.
Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter took a dim view of this, saying she "did not come down in the last shower", and that police would have had reason to make Mr Hoang the target of an undercover operation.
"I am not so naive to consider that police just decided to pick [Mr Hoang] out of a phone book, if that is such a thing these days, to see if they could try and elicit a drug deal from him," she said.
Mr Kukulies-Smith proposed bail conditions including that Mr Hoang surrender his passport, while he said family members had offered to post a surety of $15,000 to secure the man's release.
Mr Hoang had a history of complying with conditions, his lawyer said, having committed only one minor breach while previously on bail for some 14 months.
"Past behaviour is the best indicator of future behaviour," Mr Kukulies-Smith said.
But Ms Hunter said that was "rather a two-edged sword", given Mr Hoang had previously been jailed for heroin trafficking and he was now before the court for similar alleged offending.
Ms Hunter refused bail, saying she was not satisfied any bail conditions would suffice.
She said the prosecution's case was "very strong" and Mr Hoang was almost certain to be sentenced to prison if convicted.
The case is due back in court on April 14.
