IT was probably the most extraordinary moment in the painstaking investigation into the murder of student Jamie Gao. There, in a bag hidden under the driver’s seat of a white station wagon in which Gao was allegedly last seen alive, was 3kg of the drug ice.

Even more astoundingly, police will claim, the vehicle was parked in the underground carpark at the Cronulla unit complex where their chief suspect, former police officer Glen McNamara, lived.

Officers from Strike Force Album could hardly believe what they were seeing. They rang headquarters and said: “Boss, you’re not going to believe it — we’ve found the drugs.”

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They had swooped about 4am on Saturday last week while McNamara was asleep, secretly removing the car — along with the drugs.

media_camera Shocking: The body found floating near Shelly Beach

media_camera Former detective Glen McNamara being escorted to prison. Picture: Craig Greenhill

But it wasn’t until Sunday morning that McNamara discovered the car was gone, triggering a flurry of panicked calls to his alleged accomplice, disgraced former police detective Roger Rogerson. A short time later, McNamara drove to Cooma prison, in southern NSW, to visit an inmate.

The events were just another astounding development in a case that had already been full of surprises.

Three days earlier, friends of Gao walked into Kogarah police station saying they held grave fears for the missing university student.

They had become worried after being tipped off by two men, Hong Kong nationals, who had driven Gao to the alleged drug deal during which he was killed.

The men had seen the ­20-year-old get into a white station wagon in Arab Rd, Padstow, in Sydney’s southwest. The car drove 600m, turning into the Rent A Space storage facility, slowly followed by a silver Ford Falcon.

Gao was carrying a bag with 3kg of methamphetamine — worth $3 million if sold on the street as the drug ice — for what was meant to be a quick exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

media_camera Security vision showing a man, believed to be Jamie Gao, and two others getting out of a vehicle .

Timeline: Weeks leading up to Tuesday, May 20 Jamie Gao boasts about drug deal with man named Glen. Tuesday May 20 11.37am: Police allege Glen McNamara calls Gao from a Cronulla phone booth to confirm the deal is on. 1.35pm: Two men from Hong Kong drive Gao to Padstow. He gets into station wagon with 3kg of ice. 1.45pm: Car is driven 600m to a storage unit, followed by a Ford Falcon. Gao and McNamara enter Unit 803, Rogerson follows. 1.47pm: Gao is allegedly shot twice in the chest. 1.55pm: Rogerson and McNamara walk in and out of the unit a number of times. There is no sign of Gao. Soon afterwards Rogerson and McNamara are seen dragging a surfboard cover with something heavy inside from the unit. 2.35pm: Friends receive call from the Hong Kong nationals to help them search for Gao. Wednesday, May 21 12.30pm: McNamara and Rogerson return to Unit 803, allegedly cleaning up. 7pm: Gao’s friends finally report him missing. Thursday, May 22 Police view CCTV footage from storage facility and allegedly identify McNamara and Rogerson. Saturday, May 24 4am: Station wagon recovered by police with 3kg of ice allegedly inside it. Sunday, May 25 Detectives execute search warrants at Rogerson and McNamara’s homes, seizing several cars and other evidence. 6.20pm: McNamara is pulled over and charged with murder and drug supply. Rogerson’s home in Padstow Heights is searched and a silver Ford Falcon is seized. The storage unit in Caringbah is searched and a boat and surfboard with no cover are seized. Monday, May 26 7.30am: Fishermen off Cronulla find Gao’s body wrapped in tarpaulin. Detectives fly to Brisbane to search for Rogerson. McNamara appears in custody in Kogarah Local Court. Tuesday, May 27 6am: Rogerson arrives at his Padstow home to see his wife after driving from Brisbane. 11am: More than a dozen police officers storm Rogerson’s Churchill Rd home to arrest him. 3.15pm: Rogerson is charged with Jamie Gao's murder. 4.10pm: McNamara appears in court and doesn’t apply for bail. Both he and Rogerson are held in protective custody in Silverwater Jail. Sub-type: comment CAPTION: Timeline:Weeks leading up to Tuesday, May 20Jamie Gao boasts about drug deal with man named Glen. Tuesday May 2011.37am: Police allege Glen McNamara calls Gao from a Cronulla phone booth to confirm the deal is on. 1.35pm: Two men from Hong Kong drive Gao to Padstow. He gets into station wagon with 3kg of ice. 1.45pm: Car is driven 600m to a storage unit, followed by a Ford Falcon. Gao and McNamara enter Unit 803, Rogerson follows. 1.47pm: Gao is allegedly shot twice in the chest. 1.55pm: Rogerson and McNamara walk in and out of the unit a number of times. There is no sign of Gao. Soon afterwards Rogerson and McNamara are seen dragging a surfboard cover with something heavy inside from the unit. 2.35pm: Friends receive call from the Hong Kong nationals to help them search for Gao. Wednesday, May 2112.30pm: McNamara and Rogerson return to Unit 803, allegedly cleaning up. 7pm: Gao’s friends finally report him missing. Thursday, May 22Police view CCTV footage from storage facility and allegedly identify McNamara and Rogerson.Saturday, May 244am: Station wagon recovered by police with 3kg of ice allegedly inside it. Sunday, May 25Detectives execute search warrants at Rogerson and McNamara’s homes, seizing several cars and other evidence. 6.20pm: McNamara is pulled over and charged with murder and drug supply. Rogerson’s home in Padstow Heights is searched and a silver Ford Falcon is seized. The storage unit in Caringbah is searched and a boat and surfboard with no cover are seized.Monday, May 267.30am: Fishermen off Cronulla find Gao’s body wrapped in tarpaulin. Detectives fly to Brisbane to search for Rogerson.McNamara appears in custody in Kogarah Local Court.Tuesday, May 276am: Rogerson arrives at his Padstow home to see his wife after driving from Brisbane. 11am: More than a dozen police officers storm Rogerson’s Churchill Rd home to arrest him. 3.15pm: Rogerson is charged with Jamie Gao's murder. 4.10pm: McNamara appears in court and doesn’t apply for bail. Both he and Rogerson are held in protective custody in Silverwater Jail.

But Gao vanished and, after an hour’s anxious wait, the Hong Kong nationals phoned Gao’s friends, who arrived to help search for him. Over the next few hours they took Gao’s car and drove around searching the streets of Padstow. They finally abandoned the vehicle in a nearby street and left the area, waiting almost 30 hours before going to police.

The friends told officers that Gao had been boasting for weeks about a meeting with a man named Glen, at 1.35pm on Tuesday, May 20, for a drug deal.

It appeared at the time the UTS student had been kidnapped and the Serious Robbery and Crime Squad were called in. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong nationals fled the country.

A senior detective said: “The clock was ticking because we thought we had this kid tied up somewhere and we had to find him.”

Led by the highly respected veteran Detective Inspector Russell Oxford, the entire resources of the squad were rallied. More than 50 detectives began the task of tracking Gao’s last movements, starting with an examination of all the CCTV vision retrieved from storage units in Padstow. As the hours ticked into Thursday, officers came to the CCTV footage taken from the Rent A Space storage facility on Davies Rd.

“We couldn’t believe our eyes,” said one senior detective. As they tracked back to the previous Tuesday, the CCTV showed two men getting out of a white station wagon, and one ushering the other into unit 803. Police claim the first man was later identified as Glen McNamara. The second was Gao.

A few minutes later a third man, whom police claim was Rogerson, entered the unit and pulled down the roller door. At 1.55pm the door opened again — but only Rogerson and McNamara came out. In that 10-minute window, police will allege Gao was shot dead with two bullets from a small calibre weapon fired into his chest.

Rogerson and McNamara are then allegedly seen backing their cars up to the unit’s entrance. From the back of a white station wagon, McNamara pulls a surfboard cover while from his silver Ford Falcon Rogerson takes what looks like a blanket, and they re-enter the unit. A short time later McNamara, 55, and Rogerson, 73, are seen dragging the surfboard cover with something heavy inside it from the unit and loading it into the back of the station wagon. Office chairs from inside the unit were placed on top.

Fast-forwarding through the CCTV footage, Rogerson and McNamara are allegedly seen returning to unit 803 the next day to clean it, spending 40 minutes inside before returning the office chairs they had removed the day before.

Starting with the video evidence, detectives worked backwards as the focus of the investigation switched from a possible kidnapping to a suspected murder.

Like a twisted version of Hansel and Gretel, McNamara and Rogerson, two experienced criminal investigators, scattered a trail of electronic and forensic evidence in their wake. The alleged drug deal and execution took place in the middle of the day and was captured by a multitude of cameras — most of which are clearly visible if you happen to glance up.

“The stars of Amateur Hour,” more than one detective said in disgust.

“It’s too bizarre, the story doesn’t make sense,” another officer said.

For the next five days detectives worked around the clock, gathering an abundance of evidence from CCTV, forensics, phone-tracking data and intercepted phone calls.

On the Friday night police issued a press release calling for help in locating Gao without revealing they were gathering evidence against their two prime suspects.

It was on the next day police discovered the white station wagon, and by now investigators were finalising plans to make arrests.

Police had eye on victim for years DESPITE his image as a straight-A student, murder victim Jamie Gao had been in the sights of federal police as a suspected drug importer for years, it can be revealed. The clean-cut 20-year-old UTS business student had been a 'person of interest' since 2011. Federal officers had even provided a 20-page document to NSW authorities detailing his activities. That Gao was able to obtrain 3kg of ice signals he was a highly ranked and trusted member of the drug syndicate, believed to be a Hong Kong-based Asian organised crime group. “He was not some lowly delivery boy,” said one senior detective. “No syndicate is going to trust some underling with 3kg of gear and you don’t get trusted with that much for your first deal.” But police say that, inexplicably, Gao broke the underworld’s universal rule of drug-dealing: The drugs never go to the money. “The money always comes to the drugs,” an experienced detective said. “The one with the drugs has the power; you would want to see the money before you show the gear — then you do the deal. But you never let the drugs out of your sight.” It is clear Gao trusted who he was dealing with. Sub-type: comment CAPTION: Police had eye on victim for yearsDESPITE his image as a straight-A student, murder victim Jamie Gao had been in the sights of federal police as a suspected drug importer for years, it can be revealed.The clean-cut 20-year-old UTS business student had been a 'person of interest' since 2011. Federal officers had even provided a 20-page document to NSW authorities detailing his activities. That Gao was able to obtrain 3kg of ice signals he was a highly ranked and trusted member of the drug syndicate, believed to be a Hong Kong-based Asian organised crime group. “He was not some lowly delivery boy,” said one senior detective. “No syndicate is going to trust some underling with 3kg of gear and you don’t get trusted with that much for your first deal.” But police say that, inexplicably, Gao broke the underworld’s universal rule of drug-dealing: The drugs never go to the money.“The money always comes to the drugs,” an experienced detective said. “The one with the drugs has the power; you would want to see the money before you show the gear — then you do the deal. But you never let the drugs out of your sight.” It is clear Gao trusted who he was dealing with.

Last Sunday, Commander of the Robbery and Serious Crime Squad Detective Superintendent Luke Moore called a press conference to reveal details of Gao’s last known movements.

Meanwhile, Rogerson had flown to Brisbane for a speaking engagement and, with McNamara in the state’s south, detectives executed a number of search warrants at their homes, seizing several cars and crucial evidence. Also seized was McNamara’s Quintrex boat from his Caringbah storage unit, which police allege was used to dump Gao’s body.

At 6.30pm that day, McNamara was arrested during a car stop at Kyeemagh and charged with murder and supplying a commercial quantity of drugs. Then, in yet one more incredible twist, the next day as the morning news bulletins were reporting McNamara’s arrest and expected appearance at Kogarah Court, a blue tarp was spotted floating off Shelly Beach at Cronulla.

Inside was the body of Jamie Goa — the frayed rope around his feet had broken free of the weight that was supposed to sink him to the bottom of the ocean.

Both Rogerson and McNamara, who appeared briefly in court last week, did not apply for bail and have been remanded in custody until their next court date on July 22.

Detectives will now focus their attention on vital missing pieces of the puzzle, including the whereabouts of the Hong Kong nationals and who is behind the Hong Kong syndicate that supplied the drugs.

But for now, the once-formidable and feared Rogerson — now a frail 73-year-old — remains behind bars.