KEY POINTS:
A $10 million cocaine run, discussed and planned in a Peruvian coffee shop but foiled at the New Zealand border, is being replayed in the High Court at Auckland.
Eric Shar, 46, faces one charge of importing cocaine, in a retrial stemming from the alleged 2003 operation.
The
Crown says Shar was the minder for South African drug mule Jean Jacques Nieuwoudt as Nieuwoudt couriered 7kg of cocaine from Lima, Peru, through Brazil, Chile, Tahiti and Rarotonga to Auckland.
The shipment would have been worth up to $12 million if "cut" for street sale, prosecutors say.
Shar is defending the charge, but Nieuwoudt - a South African - pleaded guilty soon after his arrest and is serving a prison sentence for importation of cocaine.
Yesterday, he gave evidence against Shar, telling the court he was the owner of a struggling IT business in Johannesburg when he was contacted by a stranger named Valentino in September 2003.
He was offered US$10,000 ($14,900) to go to Lima, "pick something up" and take it to an undisclosed location.
Return tickets to Peru subsequently arrived, and he left the next day. He travelled on a fake British passport under the name Gregory Williams.
Once in Lima, Nieuwoudt was instructed by telephone to contact another man, Victor, whom he agreed to meet in a coffee shop near his hotel.
As the two men discussed the smuggling operation, Nieuwoudt noticed Shar sitting nearby. He saw him again at a later meeting, in a different cafe. He became concerned, thinking Shar was a police officer and questioned Victor about him.
Victor assured him Shar was not a policeman, the court heard.
Nieuwoudt said he also received a number of telephone calls during his stay and was given instructions by a man he later learned was Shar.
He saw Shar at the airport as he was leaving Peru, and Shar allegedly slipped him a note saying he was his "minder".
Both men then took the same flights, on multiple stops, to Auckland.
The pair arrived on September 26, 2003, and were stopped by customs officers who had noticed similarities in the two mens' travel itineraries.
They examined Nieuwoudt's luggage and found that his suitcase, when emptied, weighed in at 20kg and smelled of glue.
An x-ray revealed cavities in the case lining that were later found to contain cocaine. At the time, it was the largest-ever cocaine haul seized in New Zealand.
Shar - who was travelling under his own name - was not carrying any drugs.
But prosecutors allege Shar, in his capacity as a minder, was higher up the chain of distribution than Nieuwoudt.
It is not known whether Shar will call evidence in his own defence. The trial, before Justice Christopher Allan, is expected to finish on Friday.