An alleged drug trafficking courier of up to $3.7 million of cocaine has been bailed after his father placed a $750,000 surety following his son’s arrest in Wangaratta.

The 25-year-old Hastings man appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court via a prison link on Monday in a bid for his release.

The court heard about 3:30pm on 7 April, Wangaratta Highway Patrol officers intercepted a grey Mazda 3 at the Benalla exit of the Hume Freeway’s southbound lanes.

The accused, driving the vehicle, allegedly told police him and his passenger were travelling from Mount Beauty.

Officers conducted a search of the car where they allegedly found two shopping bags filled with 17kg of cocaine in the boot.

The pair were arrested, taken to the Wangaratta Police Station and charged with large commercial drug trafficking.

The estimated street value of the drugs seized was between $1.19m to $3.74m.

In court, Detective Senior Constable Ryan Pryor of the Victoria Police Clandestine Laboratory Squad said the man’s co-accused, a 26-year-old Frankston man, is alleged to have recruited the accused to drive him to Sydney and back in order to collect the drugs.

Det Sen Const Pryor said the Frankston man was alleged to be part of a criminal syndicate operation where he recruits drivers to transport drugs from Sydney, doing the drives late at night and planning a cover story in order to avoid detection.

The court heard the vehicle’s movements were allegedly captured on CCTV and traffic cameras from departing Frankston the night prior, and arriving in Bankstown the morning of 7 April.

In an interview with police after the intercept, the accused allegedly admitted to Wangaratta officers he had taken up the job offered to him by his former workmate suspecting it was in relation to drugs, but he “didn’t want to know”.

“I just think some things are better to not know,” he allegedly told police.

He allegedly said it wasn’t until he noticed the suspension shift from his co-accused allegedly moving the bags of drugs from the back seat to the boot and the struggle of police picking up the bags when intercepted did he realise it was serious.

“It was like an ‘oh f***’ moment,” he allegedly said.

He said he had been in Japan for three months and recently returned in need of money.

He allegedly told police he and the co-accused made up a story about travelling from Mount Beauty prior to being intercepted.

Defence counsel Amit Malik said there were triable issues with the prosecution’s case due to his client’s “willful blindness” showing no intent of trafficking the drugs.

Mr Malik said his client had no prior offending or any addiction to drugs.

The 25-year-old’s father, who lives with a wheelchair-bound disability and houses his son, appeared in support of the man and offered a $750,000 bail surety.

“I trust him, so that’s not a problem,” he said.

Prosecutor James Sutherland said the severity of the alleged drug trafficking proved the accused was too much of a risk to be let back out in the community.

Prosecution originally deemed the accused as a flight risk, but dropped the argument in the middle of proceedings.

Magistrate Ian Watkins recognised the unique personal circumstances and bailed the man on strict conditions, including a curfew and a ban from leaving the country.

“For matters of this nature it is extremely rare or unusual for someone to come to court with no priors or no addiction to drugs,” he said.

“I am satisfied the risk can be ameliorated with appropriate conditions.”

The man waved to his father via the video link as the case was adjourned.

The accused and his co-accused will return to Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on 2 July for committal mention.