Duonėlė and Balčiūnas’s titled opponent was convicted of smuggling nearly a ton of cocaine.

The 45-year-old former kayak crashed into police in 2018.

His brother Dru and another accomplice were arrested after dramatic traps in the Coral Sea off the northeast coast of Australia, involving even the Navy and Air Force.

Two men sailed in the open sea for 11 hours in a boat, where they took a cargo from a foreign ship 360 km from the coast. The operation was detected by a Coast Guard aircraft that began tracking the movement of the suspect ship.

The footage shows how, after failing to escape the pursuing patrol, the smugglers throw their packages overboard, and one of them himself seeks to flee the boat. However, both offenders were arrested by armed officers and, when questioned, blamed each other for having allegedly been forced to provide assistance.

Police accused them of trying to import 650 kg of cocaine, an estimated 130 million. euros.

And ten months later, wallets were also placed at N. Baggaley. According to the investigation, he learned about the smuggling plan and helped implement it: he bought a boat, provided him with a satellite connection and a navigation system, and during the operation he waited at the dock ready to receive the cargo.

The titled athlete justified to me that the boat he bought would be used for whale watching, but his fingerprints were found on the tape on which the boat’s registration number was affixed.

The verdict in this case against the Baggaley brothers has yet to be announced, although a Brisbane court already found them guilty on Friday.

Baggaley hadn’t escaped banned substance scandals at the height of his career.

In 2005, he got caught up in doping controllers, when steroids were found in the Australian body. The kayaker confessed to accidentally drinking his brother’s orange juice, but was disqualified for two years.

In 2007, police found hundreds of stolen ecstasy pills, marijuana, lots of cash, and water skis in an athlete’s car. Later, Mr. Baggaley was charged with drug production and distribution and imprisoned for nine years.

Although the prison gate had been opened before for the kayaker, he did not stop and was also convicted of attempting to organize drug smuggling.

N. Baggaley achieved his greatest victories on the rowing channel at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he was twice on the podium. In 2002-2005, Australia triumphed in the planet championship three times, winning two more bronze medals.

While paddling a single or double kayak in the sprint – distances of 200 and 500 m, N. Baggaley constantly competed with Lithuanians Alvydas Duonėla and Egidijus Balčiūnas, who simultaneously won awards in the international arena.