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Stuart MacGill was attacked by a friend before the Australian cricket legend was charged over an alleged $300,000 cocaine bust.
MacGill’s friend told police about cricketer’s $1,000 debt
Led to indictment for alleged $300,000 cocaine trafficking
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A friend of former Test star Stuart MacGill turned on him before the veteran cricketer was charged with allegedly setting up a $300,000 cocaine deal.
MacGilll’s friend gave information to police alleging the former champion leg-spinner was involved in a kilo cocaine deal.
The individual, who cannot be named due to a court order, told police that MacGill had a debt worth $1,000, which was settled after he allegedly concluded the agreement.
A friend of former Test great Stuart MacGill (pictured) turned against the veteran cricketer after he gave information to police, alleging MacGill was involved in arranging a kilo transaction of cocaine.
MacGill attended Chatswood police station on Sydney’s north shore at around 6pm on Tuesday following a police investigation.
The 52-year-old man was charged with one count of being concerned in the supply of a large commercial quantity of cocaine.
It is understood the new charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
He has been released on bail and is due to appear in Manly Local Court on October 26.
Police will say the deal involved one of the men agreeing to sell a kilo of cocaine to the other for more than $330,000.
It comes after MacGill made headlines in April 2021 after he was allegedly kidnapped by three masked assailants in Sydney and taken to a rural property, where he was stripped naked and then beaten.
Three men – MacGill’s former brother-in-law Marino Sotiropoulos and brothers Frederick Schaaf and Richard Schaaf – were charged over the alleged attack and their cases remain before the courts.
MacGill previously told police he was put in a car and driven 60km to a two-hectare property in Bringelly, in the south-west of the city, where he was held in a decrepit shack.
He claimed he was then beaten until he lost consciousness, with his alleged captors threatening to cut off his fingers if he did not hand over $150,000.
MacGill claimed he was eventually picked up in a car and dropped off in Belmore, where he found a “friendly” taxi driver who agreed to take him home.
Police have previously stated publicly on several occasions that MacGill was an innocent victim who introduced the two men but was not involved in drug trafficking.
The 52-year-old former cricket star (pictured) was charged with being involved in the supply of a large commercial quantity of cocaine, after appearing outside Chatswood police station on Sydney’s North Shore , Tuesday around 6 p.m.
It is understood the new charge – which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison – came after police received new information about the case.
MacGill has previously appeared in several television interviews about his alleged ordeal, where he denied being involved in the supply of cocaine.
Speaking to SEN WA Breakfast in June last year, the former Test player and father-of-two said he was so terrified after the alleged attack that he even decided to travel in the trunk from his girlfriend’s car before eventually leaving Sydney for several weeks.
MacGill (right) played 44 Test matches for Australia between 1998 and 2008 and took 208 wickets
“I felt enormous pressure. Afterwards, I ran away for a month. (My girlfriend) Maria (O’Meagher) threw me in the back of her car, I was in the trunk, I came out of my apartment, then I had a few friends who very generously put me up in hotels around Sydney for two or three weeks, and then I went with (a friend).
“We ended up going up the coast of New South Wales and through Queensland to end up on Fraser Island. In the end I was probably gone for about six weeks.”