Austalian Olympic kayaker convicted of running drug ring.

"When the Olympic kayaker was busted for steroid-use in 2005 by ASADA, he told authorities it was his brother's fault for leaving an unlabelled mixture of steroids and orange juice in the family fridge. When he was arrested and charged with manufacturing X, his demise was the sporting world's fault for banning him from competition.

In a statement of agreed facts, police said the brothers used false identities to run the drug ring and import parts for the pill press.

Both brothers spoke with buyers in coded messages and arranged transactions using a special, password-protected email account. Telephone and text message intercepts heard the Baggaleys refer to 1000 tablets of X as "hours", while money was referred to as "overtime papers".

Some of Dru Baggaley's former drug world associates are now trying to kill him in jail, he said in a statement to the court. He has been moved into segregation after one attempt on his life.

In Nathan's words, the catalyst for his descent came when he tested positive to anabolic steroids in 2005 - an incident he has long maintained was an accident."

"Authorities believe the press was used to manufacture almost 15,000 tablets - each embossed with a Maltese Cross insignia - with an estimated street value of $2.5 million.

Statements, character references and police facts tendered to the court provided a detailed account of Nathan Baggaley's downfall, which he claims began when he was barred from competition. His statement describes himself as a victim of circumstance, forced to dabble in drugs to save his younger brother, Dru, who was facing mounting debts and pressure from standover men.

To police, however, he was calculating, greedy and determined to use drug dealing to avoid work and train full-time for the Beijing Olympics. When Dru asked him to help out with a small loan for the family business, Nathan claimed he had no idea the money was being used to buy tablets and drug supplies.

When the money went missing, he said he was forced to step into his brother's shoes to recover the cash. The pill press was then moved into a Byron Bay industrial estate where Nathan was living and running a kayak-manufacturing business. "