A Newcastle drug dealer who helped facilitate and finance the importation of 71 kilograms of ice on board a "black flight" from Papua New Guinea was nothing but a "small-time flunky", his lawyers claim.
They say he gave an encrypted phone to a syndicate member and provided "small change" for expenses, but was not on board the plane or a member of the ground crew on the day of the importation into Queensland in March 2023.
But prosecutors say Michael David Bridge, now 42, was "instrumental" to the formation of a major criminal syndicate that conspired to use a light plane to import $17 million worth of methamphetamine into Australia.
They say he introduced an aircraft engineer and key figure in the importation into the syndicate and provided an "indispensable link" in reconnecting the group after an initial importation had to be aborted.
Prosecutors said Bridge's role was different to the others; he was not a "doer", but a communicator and facilitator and he held a significant role, as serious as those at the top of the syndicate in Australia who organised logistics, recruited people and flew the plane.
The Newcastle Herald reported in March that Bridge was fresh out of jail after serving six years for running a major Hunter drug supply operation, when he got involved in something even bigger.
Within a few months of his release, Bridge would begin helping to finance and facilitate the importation, using an encrypted messaging device to conspire with five other transnational crime syndicate members - two pilots and three ground crew - to use a light plane to import $17 million worth of ice.
He recruited Mark Brian Pracy, an aircraft engineer and key figure in the importation, into the syndicate, providing him with cash and an encrypted device.
He also paid for a large tanker to refuel the light aircraft and organised an associate to meet one of the pilots at an airstrip near Maitland to provide him with funds for the importation.
Bridge had initially pleaded not guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and was expected to face a trial in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court in March.
But a few days out from trial, Bridge was re-arraigned and admitted to his role in the importation.
During a five-week period while under surveillance, he used two phones to make more than 4000 calls and text messages to organise the supply of more than a kilogram of ice.
He was later jailed for a maximum of 10 years, with a non-parole period of six years.
The sentencing judge found he had good prospects of rehabilitation and was unlikely to re-offend.
Bridge was released on parole in September 2022, but by November 12 had begun conspiring to import the massive haul of methamphetamine.
After their first attempt was aborted due to fuel shortages and technical difficulties, two men - pilot Bernard Hamilton Alexander and co-pilot John Otto Horvath - flew a twin-engine Beechcraft light aircraft from Monto, a remote central Queensland town, to a small airstrip in the historic gold-mining town of Bulolo just after midnight on March 21, 2023.
While the plane was on the tarmac in Bulolo, 71 kilograms of methamphetamine in five duffle bags was packed into the nose cone of the aircraft.
The two pilots then embarked on a "black flight" back to Monto, flying at an unauthorised low altitude with the aircraft's transponder switched off in an effort to avoid radar detection.
Police said the plan was for the flight to be refuelled and then flown on to NSW, but Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers had been watching.
They arrested the two pilots and three men acting as ground crew who had based themselves in Queensland in preparation for the flight.
The ground crew - Newcastle man Peter David Payne, now 57, Pracy and Nathan Bailey - had transported a tanker of aviation gas to Central Queensland to refuel the aircraft at the remote airstrip and also purchased and rented equipment for the importation.
Bridge was not arrested with the other syndicate members.
He was picked up 10 days later and accused of funding the importation.
Bridge and others in the Australian-based syndicate had coordinated with as many as 17 other crime figures in Papua New Guinea and Queensland to import the methamphetamine into Australia using a modified light plane.
Bridge had recruited Pracy, who then used $150,000 provided by the syndicate to buy the aircraft and enlisted the help of Alexander, an experienced pilot.
Alexander, in turn, recruited Hungarian-born cleanskin Horvath to act as his co-pilot because the aircraft did not have an autopilot feature.
Pracy also recruited Payne, his neighbour and friend for more than a decade, and Bailey to help with the logistics on the ground.
The syndicate was to be rewarded with $1.3 million to be split among the group.
The other syndicate members were all prosecuted in Queensland and have all pleaded guilty and been sentenced.
Pracy was jailed for a maximum of 18 years, with a non-parole period of nine years for organising the importation and recruiting the others, while Alexander was jailed for a maximum of 11 years, with a non-parole period of eight years.
The co-pilot, Horvath, was jailed for a maximum of 15 years, with a non-parole period of 10 years, a judge finding his decision to involve himself "was a conscious one inspired only by cynical financial gain".
Payne, who was at the bottom of the hierarchy and had failed to grasp the extent of the plot, was jailed for a maximum of eight years, a judge ordering he become eligible for parole after serving five years.
Bailey was earlier this year jailed for a maximum of eight years, with a non-parole period of four years, a judge finding he provided logistical support and surveillance at the Monto Airport, but was not making critical decisions.
The major dispute during Bridge's sentence hearing in NSW District Court on Friday was his role in the importation and where he sat in the hierarchy of the syndicate.
Prosecutors said Bridge was "instrumental", while defence barrister Chris Watson called him "peripheral".
Ultimately, Judge Mark Williams, SC, found Bridge's role was less important to the syndicate than Pracy and Alexander and he had removed himself from the conspiracy after the initial failed importation.
He said while his role was "different" to Payne and Bailey, he would be receiving a similar sentence and jailed Bridge for a maximum of eight years and six months.
He ordered Bridge serve a non-parole period of four years and nine months, making him eligible for parole in September 2029.
