Companies linked to a Canberra businessman arrested in Serbia in relation to an international drug ring, supplied steel to construct Bega’s Sapphire Marketplace and Woolworths Shopping Centre in Tura Beach.
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Rohan Arnold, 43, David Campbell, 48, and Tristan Waters, 34, were arrested at gunpoint in the lobby of a five-star Belgrade hotel by Serbian authorities last week.
They are accused of being connected to the discovery of 1280 kilograms of cocaine in Sydney, secreted inside pre-fabricated steel, seized from a Chinese container boat from Brazil last year.
The cocaine was valued at $500million, making it the second largest haul of the drug in Australian history.
Fairfax Media has confirmed Campbell is a long-time business associate of Arnold.
Campbell is listed as the managing director of an international import business, Product at Import Group (PIG), and steel manufacturer, Solutions 4 Steel.
The Solutions 4 Steel website lists 41 projects, claiming to have supplied 137 tonnes of steel for the construction of the Sapphire Marketplace in Bega, valued at $1.09million.
The website also claims the company provided 80 tonnes of steel for the construction of Tura Beach’s Woolworths Shopping Centre, valued at $730,000.
The company also won contracts to provide steel for jobs at the National Portrait Gallery, Australian National University, Royal North Shore Hospital Community Health Building, Australian Institute of Police Management, Sydney International Airport Terminal, Bradman Museum and the University of Wollongong.
ASIC documents show Arnold resigned as Solutions 4 Steel director and secretary and unloaded his shareholding in the company in December 2014.
Serbian authorities say Arnold, Campbell and Waters were arrested in Belgrade in the middle of a money transaction.
A bag containing around $1million in foreign currency, including Australian dollars, Chinese yuan, and Euros, and a gun were seized by police.
Campbell has been held on suspicion of possessing the unauthorised gun, authorities said.
Serbian media has reported Waters is suspected of buying the cocaine and Arnold is suspected of laundering money for Waters.