NSW District Court trial of David Campbell, Tristan Waters continues

A prosecutor argued the alleged threats, which included sending pictures of the man's family and dead bodies, came from people the accused drug importer was "voluntarily associating with".

The NSW District Court jury trial of Tristan Egon Sebastian Waters, 39, and David Edward John Campbell, 55, continued on Tuesday.

The trial, at Sydney's Downing Centre, started on May 22 with Waters and Campbell, along with co-accused Rohan Peter Arnold, accused of conspiring to import and then possess cocaine concealed in steel sleeves shipped in a container from China.

The drugs have an estimated street value of $1.5 billion.

Campbell has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to import a border-controlled drug, and conspiracy to possess a border-controlled drug.

Waters has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to import a border-controlled drug, and guilty to conspiracy to possess the drug.

Last week Campbell took to the stand, where he claimed he was acting "under duress" to find the "missing" container.

The container had actually been seized at the border in April 2017, starting a nine-and-a-half month Australian Federal Police investigation.

The men were arrested in Belgrade, Serbia in February 2018.

Campbell had told the court a cartel in China believed he had stolen the shipping container and they wanted it back.

"It really intensified where there were photographs of my house, my children ... me coming out of work, pictures of bodies wrapped up in black plastic," Campbell said.

On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Sean Flood argued the purported threats were "a tactic used by the syndicate to draw out the police".

"No person ever turned up at [Campbell's] front door threatening violence," Mr Flood said.

"There is also a body of evidence that Mr Campbell continued with his normal life.

"He did not believe the threat would be carried out or ... it was not reasonable for him to believe the threat would be carried out."

The Crown stated Campbell said in his evidence the threats "were coming from people he knew were Chinese businessmen".

"Later he says [the threats came] from the cartel," Mr Flood said.

However, if the jury found the threats were real this would not prevent a guilty verdict, Mr Flood said.

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Mr Flood told the jury that if they found the threats came from people Campbell was "voluntarily associating with" he could still be found guilty.

The Crown also argued that Campbell's evidence was "inconsistent" and therefore not reliable.

"There were many occasions he responded 'he didn't remember'," Mr Flood said.

"[Campbell] used this response to make sure he didn't get caught out giving contradictory evidence."

The prosecutor told the jury Campbell had "reconstructed his evidence" in an effort to "come up with an answer that would best fit" when questioned.

The trial continues.

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