Wodonga man 'didn't know' of drugs allegedly connected to Olympian

Luke Matthew Peake was in a car with an associate of disgraced Olympic swimmer Scott Miller, the accused syndicate ringleader arrested and charged a month ago.

Detectives with the NSW Police drug and firearms squad stopped the car at Cookardinia, between Henty and Holbrook, back on January 13.

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Four kilograms of "ice" was found secreted in eight candles, placed in a locked box.

The revelations, made this week in Albury Local Court, show just how close the drugs were to the alleged intended distribution point of Albury.

Despite Peake being in the car for a considerable time, his defence claimed he did not know the drugs were present.

He had been told though that he and the other man could be in trouble if the box's contents were detected by police.

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Prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Pike said Peake - unlike Miller and the other man - had not been charged with supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine over the seizure.

He said it had been decided the single charge laid against Peake of possessing a prohibited drug was the only allegation he would face.

This was unique, he said, for the sheer quantity, at eight times the minimum weight for a large commercial supply charge.

"It's the most I think that I'll ever see in the Local Court," he told magistrate Richard Funston.

Miller, 45, was arrested in a raid on his home in the Sydney suburb of Rozelle in mid-February, as a similar raid and arrest took place at the third man's business and home address at Balmain.

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He was charged with directing a criminal group and both he and the other man, 47, were also charged with those counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

They, too, remain in custody, bail refused.

The court was told that Peake had agreed to go with the other man to Sydney to collect a work car that needed to brought back to Albury.

It has been alleged that this was the point at which Miller put the candles in the car.

Peake, 40, of Chapple Street, was previously refused bail.

But the latest application was allowed to proceed after the court found there had been a change in circumstances, namely Peake's intention to immediately enter a residential drug rehabilitation program in Sydney on his release.

Peake's other matters are a second offence of driving while disqualified and also driving in a manner dangerous.

That second charge will go to a hearing on May 21.

Sergeant Pike strongly opposed bail for Peake, an "ice" addict for eight years.

He said that given Peake's criminal history and the "very real risk of committing further offences while on bail" he had to remain in custody.

Mr Funston agreed, refusing bail and adjourning the possession charge, on a not guilty plea from Peake, to a hearing on August 5.

"I made it loud and clear on the last two occasions that on the drive while disqualified charges alone you are facing a full-time jail sentence of 12 months," he said.

"However, there's also a very serious possess drug matter, with a huge quantity involved.

"Anything to do with drugs like this endangers the safety of the community."

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