Barry was promised $11million just to fly home to Australia with 'a little ... trends now
View
comments
EXCLUSIVE
A Perth grandfather who says he was promised $11 million to bring 'a little gift' into Australia from Laos is now accused of being a major heroin trafficker.
Barry James Calverley, 68, who returned from South East Asia in January, is now potentially facing life in jail, but his lawyers claim he was duped.
The mining industry consultant said he was instructed in a WhatsApp message to travel to Laos and meet a man called 'Privham' in a hotel to collect documents.
When he was asked to take the chair in a green bag, along with an envelope, a court heard he was 'suspicious' and 'was aware something was not right'.
When his return flight from Hanoi touched down at Sydney Airport on January 24, Australian Border Force officers allegedly found $2.25m of heroin inside the bag.
WA grandfather and mining industry consultant Barry Calverley (above) flew to Laos in January and returned with a Vietnamese-brand camping chair in which ABF officers allegedly found 5kg of heroin
Calverley, 68, was allegedly promised $11m to bring back documents from Laos and says he was innocently 'duped' into taking 'little gift', a
