A former Victorian police officer who allegedly became a trusted member of a criminal syndicate has appeared in court, charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of the drug ice.
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David Cameron Lister, 37, was arrested last month in Queensland, when police intercepted a quantity of drugs that were bound for Townsville, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday.
Mr Lister was arrested and charged in Queensland but those charges were dropped and he returned to Victoria.
He was subsequently arrested and charged on Monday under Victorian laws, amid raids on a string of properties across Melbourne.
The former senior constable, who police allege was found carrying half a kilogram of ice at a Queensland airport within months of his resignation from Victoria Police, is charged with one count of trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine and one of cultivating cannabis.
A charge sheet alleges he trafficked the ice between January 6 and April 3 in Melbourne.
Police say Mr Lister resigned from the force in January.
Magistrate Suzanne Cameron extended Mr Lister's bail, but only after she stood the matter down when told the former officer had been granted bail by a police officer on Monday.
She accepted prosecutors' view that he did not pose an unacceptable risk of offending while out of custody.
Police believe the crime syndicate supplied ice to Melbourne's north-western suburbs, central Victoria and Townsville.
North West Regional Crime Squad detectives say they have dismantled the cartel, which is linked to shootings and cannabis crop run-throughs in Melbourne's western suburbs, after Monday's raids and the charging of eight alleged key syndicate members, including its suspected ringleader.
Among those arrested on Monday was alleged ringleader Jarrod Hennig, a 32-year-old originally from Melton, who was charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of ice.
He appeared in court on Monday and is due to return in August.
Mr Hennig ran building company Trades Group, where both Mr Lister and another alleged syndicate member, Luke Debono, worked. Mr Debono is due in court next week.
Prosecutor Jelena Malobabic told Ms Cameron on Tuesday police had to transcribe telephone intercepts and analyse the drugs seized in the case against Mr Lister.
As part of his bail conditions, Mr Lister must report to police three times a week, surrender his passport, not leave Victoria and not associate with his co-accused. He is due to return to court in August.
