A Bungendore landscaper has told a jury his "idiot" business partner "giggled" when revealing he had bought an excavator, inside which authorities at the Australian border later found a large amount of cocaine.
Timothy John Engstrom, 38, took the witness stand on Tuesday in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court, where he has been on trial since last week.
The Queanbeyan man has pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
It is not in dispute that Bungendore Landscape Supplies, a business Engstrom co-directed with close friend Adam Phillip Hunter, 37, bought a second-hand excavator from South Africa in May 2019.
There is also no challenge to the fact the 20-tonne machine had about 276kg of pure cocaine hidden inside it when police intercepted it at Port Kembla.
But Engstrom, who was captured by surveillance devices using an angle grinder to cut into the excavator upon its arrival at the landscaping yard, denies he knew, or was reckless about the fact, drugs were hidden inside it.
On Tuesday afternoon, Engstrom told the court he and Hunter had started discussions about buying a brand new excavator in March 2019.
The 38-year-old said it was perhaps late May 2019 when he first became aware of the particular excavator the business ended up buying.
He described being in the landscaping yard's front office when "Adam began to giggle".
"[Hunter] turned around and informed me that he'd bought an excavator," Engstrom told the court.
Engstrom said when he asked Hunter for more information, his close friend replied: "It's all good. It's already done."
The 38-year-old went on to say he did not know specifically where this machine had been purchased from, but he had become aware it was to be imported.
Asked what he said to Hunter about this, Engstrom replied: "I told him he was an idiot."
"I'd had experience with imported machines [in a previous job], and they were nothing but trouble," Engstrom said, describing how it was difficult to service and find parts for equipment that originated overseas.
Prosecutor Adam McGrath told the jury last week it was an agreed fact that Engstrom had received a $30,150 loan from ANZ Bank in May 2019.
Engstrom almost immediately transferred all but $150 of this Bungendore Landscape Supplies, which subsequently purchased the drug-filled digger.
Asked on Tuesday why he had transferred $30,000 to his business, Engstrom described the funds as "a cash injection ... to pay some bills and whatnot".
Specifically quizzed about whether he had been aware this money was to be used to buy an excavator, Engstrom replied: "No."
Engstrom is set to continue giving evidence on Wednesday.
