Barry Calverley: Read the scheming text messages from ‘international druglord’ that allegedly lured grandad into an $11million heroin smuggling plot – and his grim mugshot after the mining expert was seized at Sydney Airport

WhatsApp messages have revealed how an international drugs kingpin allegedly lured an Australian grandad into smuggling 3.5kg of heroin into Sydney Airport.

Perth mining consultant Barry Calverley, 68, says he never met the shady figures behind the texts – but they allegedly promised him up to $18.5million to transport ‘a little gift’ to Australia, according to a Crown Prosecution brief.

But unknown to him, he says, millions of dollars-worth of heroin was allegedly hidden inside a camping bed he was to carry on his flight from Laos in south-east Asia.

The father-of-three is now in jail facing a life sentence if convicted of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug following his arrest in Sydney in January.

The texts were revealed in the Crown Prosecution brief tendered at Calverley’s bail application in the NSW Supreme Court on August 3.

They allegedly show the drug gang becoming increasingly insistent about Calverley carrying the bed through Australian customs to deliver to ‘the Paymaster’ at a Darling Harbour hotel.

The Crown brief includes parts of the accused’s interview with Australian Federal Police on his arrest, when he allegedly admits he had ‘doubts’ about the green camping bed bag he was instructed to carry.

But according to an Australian Border Force interview in the police brief, Calverley admitted that a drug gang had duped him.

Perth grandfather Barry Calverley took this final selfie before his flight back from Laos to deliver a camping bed bag which police say contained 3.5kg of heroin

Mr Calverley stayed at the Lao Golden Hotel in Vientiane. Laos, where a ‘black African man’ allegedly handed over the camping bag containing the heroin to take back to Australia, according to the brief

He insisted he didn’t know heroin was hidden in the bed’s hollow legs and when ABF officers tell him drugs had been found, he said: ‘I was scammed. 

‘I think I have been set up by Nigerians.’ 

The texts in the police brief allegedly reveal he first made contact with the ‘drug operatives’ in November last year when he was told to contact a ‘Mr Robert Pridham’. 

By January this year, ‘Mr Pridham’ had allegedly arranged flights and a hotel.  

Calverley flew from Perth to Laos on January 16 and stayed at the Lao Golden Hotel in Vientiane.

On January 22, two days before he was due to fly home, Calverley allegedly texted Pridham: ‘What is the gift for the paymaster? 

‘Australian customs are very specific about what can and can’t be taken into the country.’ 

When Calverley questioned whether there is ‘anything illegal’ in the gift, the texts show he is reassured by a ‘Renee Lopez Jr’ and then Pridham that it is all legitimate.

According to the ABF and police interviews, detailed in the prosecution brief, Calverley is asked if he has a story ready just as he is about to leave Laos for Sydney, transiting via Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam.

According to the brief, he allegedly tells Pridham if customs asked about the camping bed, he would say: ‘The bed is for my wife.’

WhatsApp messages detailed in a police brief between Barry Calverley and two people he never met allegedly show just how anxious they were for him to carry ‘the little gift’ back to Australia

Barry Calverley, in the same shirt in which he took his final selfie, at Mascot police station after his arrest on a drug charge which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison

The brief alleges he then tells Pridham the camping bed is too heavy to carry on board and has to be checked in.

At 1.02pm on January 24, he allegedly texts: ‘The bed weighed 11 kilos. 

‘I will tell you now. If the sniffer dog or customs in Sydney show any indication on the bed, I will leave it behind.’

In the tendered document, this sparks a flurry of texts from Pridham about the possibility of Calverley leaving behind the camping bed.

Pridham allegedly texted at 2.19am: ‘What are you talking about Barry?’ and at 2.10am: ‘What nonsense are you talking about here.’

At 2.20am, Pridham allegedly added: ‘I think I have already assured you on this subject so why bringing this matter up the second time? 

‘You must not leave the gift items which cost so much money to purchase behind for any flimsy reason. 

‘Please be assured for the last time that we cannot get involved in any illegitimate activity whatsoever therefore you should have nothing to worry about.’

Before leaving Laos, the brief says Calverley allegedly messaged, ‘I’m boarding’ to Pridham. 

The man allegedly responded: ‘Send me a picture, because somebody will meet you at Sydney Airport and take the bag … and the documents and come and pick you up the next day to go and sort the payment out.’

In one of his last exchanges with the alleged drug boss when Barry was threatening to abandon the camping bed, ‘Robert Pridham’ allegedly sent a flurry of texts  

Police documents show Calverley took a final selfie dressed in a blue and green rugby-style jersey.

Despite assuring Pridham that he would change his jumper before flying, according to the brief, he was wearing the same shirt in his arrest photo mugshot.

Police allegedly found documents in his belongings which promised a payment in his name for US$7.2million (AU$10.7million), down from an alleged initial offer of AU$18million, the brief shows.

Letters were allegedly found addressed to and from ‘The Paymaster General, International Cash Payment Centre’ and the ‘Fact Finding Office, Office of the Paymaster, General Debts Reconciliation Unit, UK’, according to the brief.

On his arrival at Sydney Airport on board Vietnam Airlines flight VN087 at 1.15pm on January 24, the police brief says Calverley was allegedly due to meet the mysterious ‘Paymaster’ at the Kith Hotel in Darling Harbour to deliver the camping bed bag.

But at 2.08pm he was escorted by an ABF officer to Barrier 25 with the camping bag and two others bags.

ABF officers noted he had allegedly answered ‘No’ on his Incoming Passenger Card about bringing ‘goods that may be prohibited…, such as…any kind of illicit drugs’.

According to the ABF interview record in the brief, when asked about the camping bag, Caverley allegedly told officers he had paid $58 for it in Laos ‘for his wife because he loves camping’.

The officers then asked him for his mobile phone pin number, and after placing the camping bag under an X-ray machine and noting anomalies, began drilling into the metal poles inside.

After X-raying the camping bag (above), ABF officers drilling into the metal poles inside and tested white powder inside 48 black packages which allegedly tested positive for heroin, according to the brief

Barry Calverley was allegedly contacted in November last year by a mysterious ‘Renee Lopez Jr’ offering money in exchange for bringing home a ‘little gift’ from South East Asia, according to the brief

ABF officers allegedly found 48 packages wrapped in black electrical tape, carbon paper and clear adhesive tape, containing a substance which tested positive as heroin.

The white powder weighed 3.48kg, allegedly tested at 75.9 per cent purity, with an alleged pure net weight of 2.64kg.

Calverley asked to speak to his daughter and a lawyer, then at 2.32pm allegedly asked to speak with the ABF or Australian Federal Police ‘in a private room’.

‘I need to show him something on my phone that will explain everything,’ he said, according to the Crown brief.

‘The messages are on my phone. They said they might meet me here if I send them a picture of what I am wearing. 

‘They said yesterday that I’ll meet them at a hotel in Darling Harbour and they will pick up the camping bed.’ 

He then allegedly mentioned that ‘Nigerians’ might have set him up.

ABF officers then allegedly found the WhatsApp messages between Calverley and Renee Lopez Jr and Robert Pridham on his phone, the brief says.

The messages allegedly claim the flights to Laos and and the Lao Golden hotel booking were paid for by ‘an investor’.

According to the court documents, Calverley met up with ‘an African guy’ at the hotel, who returned with the camping bag ‘gift’ to take back to Sydney.

He told ABF and AFP officers he’d ‘previously been scammed [out of] $260,000’ and assumed the promised millions ‘was payment for what happened to me’, the brief shows.

‘I did not know there were any drugs in that bag,’ he allegedly told the officers, according to the court documents.

The WhatsApp texts allegedly show Barry Calverley refusing to carry anything illegal, but police allege he made admissions consistent with him having the intention to import the drugs 

Barry Calverley in happier days with a grandchild on a beach in western Australia, where he worked as a successful mining safety consultant for decades before his arrest on heroin charges

Asked if he thought it was a bit strange he was bringing a camping bed and mosquito net all the way from Laos to Australia, he allegedly said ‘yes’, the brief says.

But, he allegedly said, if that was what they wanted and they were paying for it, then he went with it.

The court document alleges he told AFP: ‘I’ve told you everything. I did not know what was in that bag. I’m innocent. 

‘I had no idea what was in that bag. Sorry. But I didn’t.’

The Crown allege Calverley ‘made admissions consistent with him having the intention to import the substance’.

These included that he that allegedly ‘always has doubts’ after watching TV show Border Security, and he ‘thought it strange he was bringing in a camping stretcher all the way from Laos to Australia’, according to the brief.

Calverley was arrested and charged at Mascot Police Station and taken into custody, and is currently being held in a cell at Macquarie Correctional Centre.

Calverley, – who has a wife of 31 years, a country estate, three successful daughters and a mining career spanning decades – failed in his bid to be released on bail, despite arguing he has had medical episodes while behind bars and needs special treatment.

He is unlikely to go to trial until next year.